THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


JAMES    M.   TAYLOR 
Touring:  South    America 


TOURING 
SOUTH  AMERICA 

WITH  THE  GOSPEL 


BY 


JAMES  M.  TAYLOR,  Missionary  Evangelist, 

Editor  of  the  Missionary  Reporter  and  author  of  more  than  thirty 
Books  and  Booklets  on  various  subjects. 


Cloth,  50c;  Paper,  25c 


JAMES  M.  TAYLOR, 

Publisher, 

807  Deery  Street, 

KNOXVILLE,  TENN. 


TO   THE 

INTERDENOMINATIONAL 
MISSIONARY  PRAYER  LEAGUE 

whose  prayers  made  this  tour  possible, 

and  made  it  a  success,  this  book 

is  affectionately  dedicated. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Our  "Tours"  are  for  Missionary  Evangelis- 
tic purposes.  "Touring  South  America  With 
The  Gospel"  was  for  this  same  purpose. 

We  have  made  no  attempt  to  give  the  read- 
er a  historic  or  literary  work;  our  purpose 
has  been  single;  namely,  a  hope  that  we 
might,  through  these  pages,  give  the  reader 
some  idea  of  the  appalling  needs  and  golden 
opportunities  in  South  America. 

If  this  small  book  "Touring  South  Ameri- 
ca With  The  Gospel",  is  successful  on  its 
mission  in  securing  a  life  for  South  America 
and  the  support  of  a  few  workers,  the  au- 
thor will  be  glad  he  wrote  while  traveling 
as  deck  passenger  at  times,  in  cheap  hotels 
and  cold  rooms  on  other  occasions.  The  book 
was  written  with  a  prayer  and  purpose,  it  is 
published  and  sent  out  with  the  same  prayer 
and  purpose. 

JAMES  MILBURN  TAYLOR, 
On  board  S.  S.  Vauban, 
July  First,  Nineteen  Hundred  Fourteen. 


G55530 


FOREWORD. 


The  Interdenominational  Missionary  work 
we  have  been  doing  for  the  last  four  years  is 
three-fold  in  its  scope  and  purpose.  We 
mention  the  three  in  the  order  of  what  we 
deem  their  relative  importance  to  the  evan- 
gelization of  the  world. 

First,   to  scatter   Missionary  Information 

from  the  platform  in  missionary  addresses, 
and  by  use  of  the  printed  page,  which  we 
are  endeavoring  to  put  out  by  the  million  in 
tracts,  papers  and  books.  We  do  this  believ- 
ing that  if  the  Christian  world  could  be  in- 
telligently informed  concerning  the  needs  of 
the  unevangelized  millions  it  would  not  be 
long  until  the  light  of  the  Gospel  would  pen- 
etrate every  dark  heathen  nation  on  earth. 

Second,  Missionary  Evangelism.  From 
Bishops,  Superintendents  and  lone  mission- 
aries in  all  parts  of  the  world  we  are  con- 
tinually receiving  urgent,  pleading  calls  to 
"come  over  and  help"  them.  In  these  evan- 
gelistic services  we  see,  as  a  rule,  the  various 
missions  united.  The  missionaries  often  de- 
clare the  greatest  good  accomplished  is  the 
help  they  receive  in  their  own  hearts.  In 


addition  to  this,  however,  we  have  the  priv- 
ilege of  seeing  thousands  accept  the  gospel 
for  the  first  time,  and  the  work  being  care- 
fully followed  up  by  the  missionaries  the 
final  and  permanent  results  cannot  be  esti- 
mated in  this  life. 

Third,  The  Support  of  Missionaries  and 
Native  Workers.  We  have  not  given  the 
matter  of  raising  money  for  the  support  of 
workers  the  place  of  first  importance.  We 
are  far  more  anxious  to  scatter  missionary 
information.  Whatever  money  comes  in  we 
use  as  requested  by  the  donor,  and  directed 
by  His  Spirit,  in  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  in 
foreign  fields. 

In  supporting  workers,  we  always  take 
those  who  are  connected  with  some  church  or 
mission  now  at  work  on  the  field,  and  with 
sufficient  strength  to  conserve  it.  Should  the 
reader  become  interested  in  any  part  of  the 
work  or  needs  mentioned  in  these  pages,  and 
desire  more  information  concerning  same,  it 
will  be  furnished  on  application,  with  pleas- 
ure. 

We  will  be  glad  to  send,  free,  a  copy  of  our 
book,  Interdenominational  Missionary  Work. 
Address  the  publisher. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 
TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   ONE 
Panama 

Midnight,  February  First — Excommunication  to  the 
Fifth  Generation — Roman  Inconsistencies — The 
Results. 

Page 10 

CHAPTER    TWO 

Colombia 
Buenaventura. 
Page 21 

CHAPTER  THREE 
Ecuador 

Esmeraldas— The  Bull   Fights. 

Page 26 

CHAPTER  FOUR 
Peru 

Callao— Lima,  capital  of  Peru — Cuzco,  the  old  Inca 
capital. 

Page 35 

CHAPTER  FIVE 

Bolivia 

The  La  Paz  meeting. 
Page 48 

CHAPTER  SIX 
Chile 

The  meeting  in  Valparaiso — Needs  of  Valparaiso — 
Santiago  meetings — Concepcion — In  Southern 
Chile — The  best  schools — Los  Andes. 

Page .  54 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA          9 

CHAPTER  SEVEN 

Argentine 

Buenos  Aires — Campaign  in  Buenos  Aires — Praying 
to  the  saints  and  images — Modes  of  opposition — 
Cradle  of  Romanism. 
Page 75 

CHAPTER  EIGHT 

Paraguay 

Incident  from  Paraguay. 
Page 90 

CHAPTER    NINE 

Uruguay 
Wearing  images. 
Page 95 

CHAPTER  TEN 

Brazil 
Page 100 

CHAPTER  ELEVEN 

The  Guianas 

Good  liquor  in  the  name  of  religion. 
Page 103 

CHAPTER  TWELVE 

Venezuela 

The  fruit  of  tract  work. 
Page 107 

CHAPTER  THIRTEEN 

Church  Growth  on  the  Mission  Field. 

Page Ill 

CHAPTER  FOURTEEN 

Evangelism  in  South   America 

Page 116 

CHAPTER   FIFTEEN 

The    Accepted    Hour 

Page 119 

CHAPTER  SIXTEEN 

Good-Bye 
Page 122 


10        TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

CHAPTER  ONE 
Panama. 

This  word  generally  carries  to  the  minds 
of  the  American  people  thoughts  of  the  city 
of  Panama  and  the  canal,  rather  than  the 
Republic  of  Panama,  which  covers  an  area 
equal  to  that  of  the  state  of  Maine,  or  nearly 
32,380  square  miles.  The  population  of  the 
Republic  of  Panama  is  36,100,  and  like  Co- 
lombia, Guatemala  and  Honduras,  it  reaches 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  oceans. 

This  little  Republic  is  a  country  of  great 
agricultural  wealth  and  industrial  possibil- 
ities. They  are  already  exporting  bananas, 
cocoa,  tobacco,  sugar,  rubber,  vegetable 
ivory,  turtle  shells,  pearls  and  mahogany. 
Their  possibilities  are  great,  if  they  had 
railroads  to  connect  the  capital  and  other 
ports  with  their  farming,  gardening,  and  cat- 
tle raising  territory. 

The  only  railroads  at  the  present  are  those 
crossing  the  isthmus  between  Colon  and  Pan- 
ama City,  with  a  length  of  forty-eight  miles, 
and  a  banana  line  running  into  the  interior 
for  twenty-nine  miles.  The  contract  has 
been  let,  however,  for  building  a  line  274 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         11 

miles  up  the  coast  connecting  Panama  City 
and  David.  This  is  to  cost  about  five  million 
dollars,  and  when  completed  will  form  a  part 
of  the  contemplated  Pan-American  system, 
which  will  connect  Panama  City  with  New 
York  by  a  main  trunk  line. 

The  foreign  commerce  in  1909  exceeded  ten 
million  dollars.  Panama  bought  from  the 
United  States  products  valued  at  about  five 
million,  and  sold  of  its  exports  to  the  United 
States,  $1,265,000,  making  a  total  exchange 
of  $6,265,000. 

Panama  City,  the  capital  of  this  little  Re- 
public, is  of  course  nearing  the  hour  when 
she  will  be  the  mistress  of  ports  on  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean,  both  in  North  and  South  Ameri- 
ca. It  has  at  present  a  population  of  little 
more  than  forty  thousand,  but  is  enjoying  a 
rapid  growth. 

Colon,  the  Atlantic  entrance  to  the  Canal, 
is  a  city  of  about  twenty  thousand;  while 
Cristobal,  its  twin  sister  just  across  the  line 
on  American  territory,  swells  the  population 
to  about  thirty  thousand. 

The  possibilites  for  missionary  work  here 
on  the  Isthmus,  particularly  in  the  cities  of 
Panama  and  Colon  will  undoubtedly  be  the 
greatest  of  any  one  place  on  the  earth  after 
the  Canal  has  been  opened.  What  a  golden 


12         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

opportunity  to  scatter  religious  literature  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth  by  handing  it  out  on 
vessels  as  they  go  through  this  public  high- 
way. Lovers  of  the  Bible  and  salvation 
should  see  to  it  that  godly  men  and  women 
are  stationed  here  to  scatter  tracts  and 
preach  Jesus  to  the  passersby. 

Midnight,  February  First. 

It  is  Sunday  at  midnight.  The  Government 
Theater  has  just  closed  and  carriages  are 
passing  by  the  dozen  with  the  poor  horses 
being  whipped  into  a  hard  run  up  the  paved 
streets. 

I  preached  three  times  today  and  the  con- 
viction by  His  Spirit  was  glorious;  many 
sought  the  Lord,  all  of  them  grown  men  and 
women.  More  than  thirty  promised  to  per- 
sonally invite  at  least  25  each  to  the  meet- 
ings. 

Ten  minutes  before  the  evening  service, 
two  bands  gathered  in  opposite  sections  of 
the  city  and  marched  to  the  church  singing. 
We  could  not  give  standing  room  for  those 
who  came. 

On  my  way  home  I  passed  many  places 
where  public  dances  were  going  on,  and  ev- 
ery few  doors  the  saloons  were  doing  busi- 
ness as  on  a  holiday.  There  is  no  Sunday 
here.  This  month  a  "Bull  Ring"  is  to  be 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         13 

opened  where  the  old  Spanish  bull  fights  will 
be  held. 

Last  night  two  men  were  shot  down  on 
the  street.  The  night  before  that  a  Roman 
Catholic  priest  was  tried  for  killing  a  man  in 
his  own  home.  The  evidence  showed  he  had 
seduced  several  girls,  one  being  the  niece  of 
a  wealthy  man.  This  man  asked  the  Rever- 
end Father  not  to  come  to  the  house  any 
more. 

It  was  shown  in  court  that  the  priest  had 
threatened  more  than  once,  in  the  presence 
of  others,  to  kill  him,  and  finally  did,  but  was 
freed. 

I  would  suggest  that  the  Bible  is  what  the 
place  needs.  Pray  that  He  will  help  us  give 
its  account  of  salvation. 

Excommunication    to  the  Fifth  Generation. 

Our  meeting  had  gained  considerable  inter- 
est; a  few  hundred  people  had  knelt  in  the 
altar  seeking  Jesus,  when  one  day  the  train 
arrived  with  about  a  dozen  "monks." 

The  reader  may  not  know  that  the  monk 
is  an  order  of  men  in  the  Roman  church, 
which  is  much  the  same  in  ranking  as  that 
of  the  nun.  The  monk  spends  all  his  time 
for  the  church.  His  work  may  call  him  to 
the  garden  to  hoe,  or  in  the  homes  of  the  peo- 
ple to  visit,  and  if  possible  to  undo  the  work 


14         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

of  the  Protestants.  They  are  poorly  dressed 
and  wear  sandals  instead  of  shoes. 

During  these  meetings  referred  to,  many 
Romanists  seemed  to  be  slipping  away  to 
the  Protestants.  The  monks  were  brought 
to  do  "much  needed"  visiting,  and  visit  they 
did.  They  had  women  and  children  help  them, 
and  the  "visiting"  began  in  earnest.  Those 
who  had  been  attending  the  meetings  or 
sending  their  children  to  the  school  of  the 
missionaries,  were  all  taken  in  turn.  They 
made  fun  of  us,  lied  on  us,  threatened  us, 
argued  with  the  natives,  making  them  offers 
if  they  would  give  it  all  up ;  and  then  at  last 
informed  them  that  the  pope  was  going  to 
write  all  of  them  three  letters  which  would 
be  read  in  the  various  Roman  churches  and 
circulated. 

If,  after  these  three  letters,  they  did  not 
cease  attending  the  Protestant  meetings,  and 
did  not  take  their  children  out  of  the  Protest- 
ant schools,  then  the  pope  would  curse  them 
to  the  fifth  generation,  excommunicate  them 
for  five  generations — i.  e.,  fix  things  up  so  it 
would  be  impossible  for  them,  their  children 
and  grandchildren  down  to  the  fifth  genera- 
tion to  escape  hell  and  get  to  heaven. 

We  were  in  this  place  a  year  before,  and 
saw  many  saved  who  are  now  standing  true ; 
but  we  remembered  one  boy  who  at  that  time 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         15 

was  very  active.  The  priests  labored  with 
him  and  his  father;  they  threatened  and  ar- 
gued; then  finally  they  began  bidding.  The 
father  was  out  of  work,  so  they  gave  him  a 
position  and  put  the  boy  in  school.  Now  he 
shuns  the  missionaries  on  the  streets. 

A  great  temptation  could  be  removed  both 
from  the  children  and  parents  in  these  coun- 
tries by  providing  scholarships  at  a  small 
cost  for  the  children.  Then  when  a  family 
or  any  member  of  it  begins  to  attend  gospel 
meetings  the  cudgel  of  their  children's  edu- 
cation could  not  be  drawn  on  them. 

The  poor  natives  in  the  place  referred  to 
need  our  prayers.  The  threat  of  one  who 
claims  to  occupy  the  place  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
that  he  will  see  to  it  that  they  and  their 
children  down  to  the  fifth  generation,  all  go 
to  hell  unless  they  cease  to  hear  the  gospel 
preached  and  take  the  children  out  of  the 
Protestant  schools. 

Roman   Inconsistencies. 

It  is  often  hard  to  decide  which  is  the  most 
important,  the  Roman  church  in  her  endeav- 
or to  secure  money  and  prestige,  or  the  fa- 
vors shown  by  authorities  of  the  United 
States  government  in  order  to  secure  the 
political  patronage  of  this  organization.  The 
average  Protestant,  and  in  fact,  thousands 


• 


16          TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

of  American  Romanists,  could  scarcely  ac- 
cept as  facts  the  unreasonable  actions  resort- 
ed to  by  this  church. 

In  conversation  with  the  son  of  an  ex- 
president  of  one  of  the  Latin-American  Re- 
publics, he  spoke  of  the  various  days  in 
which  they  were  required  by  the  priest  to  ab- 
stain from  meats.  But  the  young  man  laugh- 
ed and  declared  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  set- 
tle the  meat  question  on  the  holy  days  when 
they  were  expected  to  abstain.  "All  we  need 
to  do,"  he  said,  "is  to  go  to  the  priest  with  a 
small  amount  of  money  and  he  tells  us  we 
can  eat  anything  we  want." 

The  tourists  visiting  Panama  City  will  find 
at  one  end  of  Central  Plaza  an  imposing 
building  which  is  the  Bishop's  palace.  A 
large  part  of  this  palace  is  given  over  to 
the  Panama  Lottery  for  their  head  of- 
fices. The  sign  is  stretched  across  the  front 
of  the  building.  It  is  no  secret  whatever,  but 
is  commonly  reported  that  the  church  re- 
ferred to  received  more  than  25  per  cent  of 
the  proceeds  of  this  immense  lottery  busi- 
ness. In  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon, 
through  a  single  square  of  the  business  sec- 
tions one  will  pass  from  one  to  a  half  dozen 
venders  selling  lottery  tickets. 

But  the  United  States  authorities  here  are 
just  about  as  inconsistent,  seemingly,  as  this 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         17 

church.  As  the  canal  is  nearing  completion 
it  has  been  necessary  to  drop  a  great  many 
of  the  employees.  Among  those  it  seemed 
best  to  dismiss  some  of  the  chaplains  em- 
ployed by  the  United  States  during  the  build- 
ing of  the  canal.  According  to  the  statement 
of  those  who  ought  to  know,  we  learn  that 
fully  four-fifths  of  the  people  on  the  Canal 
Zone  are  Protestants.  But  while  discontinu- 
ing the  service  of  a  number  of  chaplains,  two 
Roman  Catholic  priests  and  one  Episcopalian 
clergyman  were  retained.  The  Roman  Cath- 
olics en  the  Isthmus  will  represent,  as  stated, 
about  one-fifth  of  the  population,  yet  there 
were  two  priests  retained  and  only  one  Pro- 
testant. We  are  told  that  the  Baptists,  Meth- 
odists and  Presbyterians  compose  fully  three- 
fifths  of  the  people,  but  these  churches  are 
not  represented  at  all  by  a  chaplain. 

There  is  certainly  a  cause  for  this  incon- 
sistency and  the  only  one  apparent  is  that 
the  ninety  per  cent,  of  Protestants  in  the 
United  States  do  not  clamor  as  loudly  for  fa- 
vors as  the  ten  per  cent,  of  Romanists. 

The  Results. 

The  Campaign  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
was  a  most  blessed  victory  in  every  respect. 
In  the  city  of  Panama  the  meetings  were 
held  in  the  new  church  we  had  helped  them 


18         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

to  build  since  we  were  there  one  year  before. 
The  crowds  were  large,  interest  deep,  and 
hundreds  sought  the  Lord. 

In  order  to  have  services  in  Colon  we  had 
to  build  a  place  for  the  meetings. 

Colon  is  the  city  at  the  Atlantic  entrance 
of  the  Panama  Canal.  Cristobal  is  the  Amer- 
ican part  of  what  is  really  the  same  city. 
Colon  has  a  population  of  18,000  or  20,000 
people;  Cristobal  is  just  "across  the  street" 
and  being  a  part  of  the  same  city,  increases 
its  population  to  perhaps  30,000. 

While  laboring  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
one  year  ago  we  became  interested  in  Colon 
and  found  the  Missionary  Superintendent, 
with  whom  we  were  working,  much  burden- 
ed for  Colon.  He  told  us  upon  our  return  this 
winter,  that  the  Panama  Railroad  Company 
had  given  him  valuable  lots  for  a  church  and 
parsonage.  The  lots  are  located  on  one  of 
the  principal  corners  of  the  city.  They  had 
been  given  on  condition  that  a  building  be 
erected  on  them  soon.  A  year  has  passed 
and  they  were  wanting  the  lots  or  a  church 
begun.  We  found  the  interest  of  the  Super- 
intendent greater  than  our  own. 

To  our  amazement,  we  found  that  though 
it  was  a  city  as  described,  of  perhaps  30,000 
inhabitants,  there  was  no  work  at  all  being 
done  for  the  native  Spanish  people.  We  saw 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         19 

at  once  not  only  an  opportunity  to  preach 
the  Gospel  in  a  church  there,  but  to  preach  it 
to  two  churches  or  congregations,  English 
and  Spanish. 

The  superintendent  said :  "Bro.  Taylor,  you 
must  not  leave  the  Isthmus  without  holding 
a  meeting  in  Colon,  so  we  can  start  a  work 
over  there."  But  how  could  we  when  there 
was  no  building? 

After  looking  the  field  over  we  decided  to 
put  up  the  frame  of  a  building  and  cover  it 
in  order  to  provide  a  shed  for  the  meeting. 
This  we  did  and  held  the  meeting  in  it,  with- 
out the  sides  or  floor  being  put  in.  The  ex- 
pense was  $366.31,  including  good  second- 
hand seats. 

All  that  is  necessary  now  to  have  a  good 
mission  building  is  to  weatherboard  it  and 
put  in  a  concrete  floor.  Material  is  very  dear, 
but  the  missionaries  will  do  most  of  the 
work.  Six  hundred  dollars  we  believe  will  get 
the  material  to  finish  it.  This  will  m-aVe  the 
building  cost  about  $1,000.00,  not  including 
the  free  labor. 

The  revival  has  been  held.  The  first  ser- 
vice was  on  Saturday  night,  when  we  saw  fif- 
teen people  kneel  in  the  altar  seeking  Jesus 
under  this  shed.  The  interest  continued; 
many  professed  to  find  their  Christ. 


20        TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

In  order  to  help  conserve  the  work  of  the 
meetings  we  felt  led  of  the  Lord  to  put  two 
men  and  their  wives,  and  one  Bible  woman 
to  work  under  the  superintendent  of  this 
mission.  We  have  also  greatly  desired  to 
have  the  privilege  of  sending  a  young  woman 
from  Indiana,  who  is  a  Deaconess  and  a 
school  teacher.  We  will  then  be  able  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  churches  and  two  schools,  both 
being  taught  in  English  and  Spanish,  thus 
accommodating  the  West  Indian  and  the 
native  Panamanian  children. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         21 

CHAPTER  TWO 
Colombia. 

Colombia,  like  Venezuela,  is  in  a  backward 
state  as  touching  education  and  evangelism. 
The  missionary  work  is  indeed  a  very  lim- 
ited one.  So  far  as  we  have  been  able  to 
learn,  the  Presbyterians  are  carrying  on  the 
only  work  in  Colombia  that  amounts  to 
much.  We  have  learned  of  two  independent 
missionaries  from  an  organization  in  Kansas 
City,  who  are  located  in  Cali,  near  the  west 
coast.  And  Rev.  William  Cocking,  representa- 
tive of  the  American  Bible  Society,  works  in 
various  parts  of  the  republic  as  a  colporteur. 

This  is  the  only  country  of  South  America 
that  extends  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa- 
cific. The  area  of  Colombia  is  equal  to  that 
of  Texas,  Kansas,  Arkansas  and  Louisiana. 
The  population  is  nearly  four  and  one-half 
million,  and  her  foreign  trade  is  valued  at 
about  twenty-six  million  dollars. 

The  leading  exports  are  coffee,  cattle, 
hides,  rubber,  tobacco,  ivory  nuts  and  mineral 
products.  It  is  believed  by  many  that  the 
recent  gold  discoveries  will  sooner  or  later 
make  Colombia  one,  if  not  the  first,  gold  pro- 
ducing country  in  South  America. 


22         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Bogota,  the  capital,  is  nine  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea  level,  and  a  most  picturesque 
city.  It  has  a  population  of  150,000  and  is 
noted  -for  its  culture  and  refinement.  In  this 
great  country,  with  her  wonderful  natural 
resources,  there  is  less  than  600  miles  of  rail- 
road. 

Down  through  the  Cauca  Valley,  from  the 
Magdalena  River  to  the  Ecuadorian  border, 
which  is  back  from  the  Pacific  coast  a  few 
days  travel,  there  are  cities  ranging  in  pop- 
ulation from  ten  to  forty  thousand.  Very  few 
of  these  have  been  touched  by  Protestant 
missionaries  or  even  colporteurs  of  the  Bible 
societies.  Christian  people  should  definitely 
pray  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  to  send  forth 
reapers  to  needy,  neglected  Colombia. 

Buenaventura. 

This  caption,  translated  into  English, 
means  "Good  Venture"  or  "Good  For- 
tune". Just  why  it  has  this  name  we  cannot 
understand  unless  it  has  had  a  history  not 
indicated  by  conditions. 

Buenaventura  is  the  first  call  our  steamer 
made  after  leaving  Panama  going  down  the 
coast  of  South  America.  It  is  only  about  for- 
ty-eight hours  from  Panama  and  is  one  of  the 
principal  Pacific  ports  in  Colombia,  being  the 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         23 

port  of  entry  for  the  great  Cauca  Valley  in 
which  are  located  several  large  cities. 

Buenaventura  has  a  beautiful  harbor,  be- 
ing on  the  "Choco  Bay",  which  is  generally 
called  by  the  name  of  the  town  itself,  "Bay  of 
Buenaventura".  The  bay  is  eight  miles  long 
from  the  point  of  land,  but  for  steamers  to 
enter  and  leave,  another  eight  miles  must 
be  added  before  deep  water  is  reached.  The 
harbor  is  really  the  mouth  of  Rio  Dagua, 
the  largest  of  eight  or  ten  rivers  which  emp- 
ty into  it. 

Our  little  ship,  the  "Manave" — the  oldest 
on  this  coast — could  only  go  within  about  a 
mile  of  the  town.  Here  we  discharged  the 
cargo  into  large  "lighters."  Buenaventura 
is  really  built  on  an  island.  They  claim  a 
population  of  6,000,  but  we  failed  to  see 
where  they  lived  Most  of  the  houses  are 
covered  with  trash ;  dirty  pools  of  water  and 
other  filth  stand  in  the  streets,  and  mosqui- 
toes are  plentiful. 

The  natives  are  mostly  black,  being  de- 
scendants of  slaves  once  owned  by  the  Span- 
iards in  the  Cauca  Valley. 

A  government  railroad  runs  back  from  this 
port,  toward  the  valley  referred  to,  which  is 
said  to  be  one  of  the  most  fertile  on  earth. 
I  learned  that  they  have  been  at  work  on  this 


24         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

railroad  for  forty  years  and  six  months,  and 
only  have  47  1-2  miles  completed  sufficiently 
for  the  operation  of  trains.  From  the  end  of 
this  road  it  is  a  day  and  a  half  by  mule  to 
the  city  of  Cali,  a  flourishing  place  of  about 
30,000  people,  right  in  the  midst  of  this  fer- 
tile valley.  Palmyra,  a  city  of  14,000,  is  only 
three  hours  on  muleback  from  Cali.  Popayan 
is  three  days  by  mule,  or  about  sixty  miles 
from  Cali,  and  has  a  population  of  25,000. 
Manizales  is  a  city  of  45,000,  also  located  in 
this  section  of  Colombia. 

After  inquiring  of  the  Roman  Priests  and 
Protestant  traveling  men,  we  were  able  to 
learn  of  only  two  Protestant  misionaries 
working  in  all  this  vast  region.  They  are 
located  in  Cali,  representing  a  small  inde- 
pendent organization. 

While  in  Buenaventura  we  called  on  the 
Roman  priests.  The  one  in  charge  was  a  fat, 
filthy  man  with  a  real  animal  look.  We  sold 
some  copies  of  the  New  Testament  and  gave 
out  a  large  number  of  tracts  to  the  natives. 
Men,  women  and  children  ran  after  us  beg- 
ging for  them.  When  we  offered  them  the 
Testaments  they  would  inquire,  "Are  those 
prohibited  books?"  Bro.  Compton,  our  inter- 
preter, answered  by  asking,  "How  can  they 
be  prohibited  books,  being  the  words  of  Je- 
sus?" 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         25 

The  poverty  is  fearful.  We  saw  two  moth- 
ers, each  nursing  a  pair  of  twins,  and  in  both 
cases  they  were  lying  on  the  bare  floor  with 
only  a  very  few  rags  about  them.  It  was 
pitiful  to  hear  their  answers,  when  we  hand- 
ed them  the  tracts,  asking,  "Can  you  read  ?" 

The  priest  told  us  the  morals  of  the  peo- 
ple were  very  bad.  He  said  there  was  a  law 
that  they  must  marry,  but  the  people  would 
not  live  by  it.  He  did  not,  of  course,  tell  us 
that  he  himself  was  not  living  by  it,  and 
would  not  marry  others  unless  they  paid  him 
a  large  sum  of  money. 

Though  the  natural  wealth  of  this  country 
is  fabulous,  we  find  as  the  fruit  of  400  years 
of  Romanism,  poverty,  ignorance,  impurity, 
no  knowledge  of  God,  and  no  Bible  to  read. 

They  NEED  the  Bible  and  a  Missionary. 


26         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

CHAPTER  THREE 
Ecuador. 

This  South  American  Republic  gets  its 
name  from  its  situation.  And  yet  such  a 
large  proportion  has  a  high  elevation  that  it 
has  a  temperate  as  well  as  tropical  climate. 
Ecuador  has  an  area  of  possibly  116,000 
square  miles,  which  is  equal  to  that  of  the 
states  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas.  It  has  a 
long  coast  line  on  the  Pacific  ocean.  The 
principal  port  of  entry  is  Guayaquil,  which 
furnishes  one  of  the  finest  ports  of  the  west- 
ern coast.  But  for  lack  of  sanitation  it  has 
been  looked  upon  for  years  as  a  veritable 
graveyard.  Plans  are  now  on  foot  for  its  san- 
itation. In  fact,  the  contract  was  let  about 
the  time  of  our  first  visit  to  Ecuador.  Many 
people  have  very  little  faith  in  the  undertak- 
ing, but  it  is  quite  possible  it  will  be  carried 
through  on  account  of  the  fact  that  the  Uni- 
ted States  Government  proposes  to  quaran- 
tine the  Canal  Zone  against  Ecuador  unless 
Guayaquil  is  cleaned  up. 

It  was  very  common  to  walk  down 
the  principal  streets  and  find  pools  of  water 
extending  nearly  across,  and  covered  with  a 
green  scum.  In  other  streets  not  so  promi- 
nent we  are  sure  it  would  be  impossible,  es- 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         27 

pecially  during  the  rainy  season,  to  drive  a 
two-wheeled   cart   through.     We    saw  dead  ( 
animals  lying  in  the  streets,  and  there  was 
seemingly  no  thought  of  ever  removing  them. 

There  is  very  little  being  done  in  Guaya- 
quil for  the  salvation  of  the  people.  In  fact, 
Ecuador  as  a  whole  is  at  the  present  being 
largely  left  alone. 

A  remarkable  railroad  has  been  recently 
completed  which  surmounted  great  physical 
difficulties,  and  now  carries  the  weary  trav- 
eler from  Guayaquil  to  Quito,  the  capital.  On 
the  journey  the  road  rises  to  an  elevation  of 
12,000  feet,  then  a  time  or  two  descends  to 
eight  or  nine  thousand,  finally  reaching  the 
capital  at  an  elevation  of  nearly  ten  thousand. 
Quito  is  a  city  of  between  eighty  and  a  hun- 
dred thousand  people,  while  the  whole  Re-  ( 
public  of  Ecuador  has  a  population  of  a  lit-  |  / 
tie  more  than  1,500,000. 

Ecuador's  foreign  trade  is  valued  at  about 
$22,000,000.  About  $6,000,000  of  this 
amount  is  with  the  United  States.  The  prin- 
cipal articles  of  export  are  cacao  (in  which 
she  exceeds  all  other  South  American  coun- 
tries) ;  ivory__nuts.  the  famous  "jipi-japa" 
hats,  known  commercially  as  Panamas,  rub- 
Jker,  coffee,  gold  and  hides. 

The  population  is  largely  Indian,  this  hav- 
ing been  part  of  the  old  Inca  Peruvian  Em- 
pire before  the  conquest. 


28         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

ESMERALDAS. 
The  Revolution 

Just  across  the  Ecuadorian  border  our  first 
call  was  at  Esmeraldas,  but  we  were  not  able 
to  go  ashore  or  even  receive  or  discharge 
cargo  or  mail.  The  revolution  being  led  by 
General  Concha  had  been  on  for  more  than 
three  months,  and  this  was  Concha's  head- 
quarters. His  men  were  well  intrenched  all 
along  the  coast. 

An  Ecuadorian  man-of-war,  a  vessel  pre- 
sented to  them  by  Chile,  was  anchored  in  the 
harbor  to  help  the  president,  General  Plaza, 
who  had  left  the  capital  and  gone  out  in  per- 
son to  conduct  the  war.  Our  vessel  communi- 
cated with  the  warship  and  took  aboard  some 
wounded  and  sick  to  carry  back  to  Guayaquil. 

General  Plaza  had  gone  a  little  further 
north  to  Limon  with  his  army,  intending  to 
march  south  and  take  Esmeraldas,  but  we 
understood  that  several  hundred  soldiers  with 
their  guns  and  ammunition  had  gone  over  to 
the  rebel  leader,  who  had  won  every  engage- 
ment that  far. 

The  war-cry  of  the  Revolutionists  seemed 
to  be  'vengeance  for  Alfaro.'  Of  Alfaro's  cru- 
el death  we  will  write  elsewhere.  The  barba- 
rous tribes  in  Central  Africa  one  hundred 
years  ago  could  not  outdo  it  for  bloody  cruel- 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         29 

ty.  According  to  information  given  us,  Pres- 
ident Alfaro  was  beheaded  at  the  order  of 
General  Plaza,  the  present  president. 

The  Spanish  have  a  proverb,  "He  that  lives 
by  the  knife  shall  also  die  by  the  knife."  This 
proverb  is  much  like  God's  word  which  says, 
"Whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also 
reap."  Because  of  this  fearful  truth  we  pre- 
dict the  downfall  of  the  Plaza  government.  It 
may  not  come  just  now,  but  it  is  certain  to 
come  soon. 

The  reader,  who  has  never  been  in  these 
countries  to  see  for  himself,  cannot  possibly 
draw  even  a  mental  picture  of  what  one  of 
these  armies  looks  like.  The  soldiers  a»e,  as 
a  rule,  mere  boys,  mostly  ragged  and  bare- 
footed. They  go  to  war  either  because  they 
are  forced  to  go,  or  because  of  promises  of 
all  they  can  get  when  they  "sack  a  town,"  or 
promises  of  position  when  victory  and  peace 
are  gained. 

We  have  just  heard  that  the  boys  from  the 
military  school  were  taken  by  the  president 
from  the  capital  to  Guayaquil  on  the  promise 
that  they  were  going  for  a  picnic.  Upon  ar- 
riving at  Guayaquil  they  were  put  on  board  a 
vessel,  and  when  they  asked  what  it  meant, 
were  told  that  they  were  off  to  the  war. 
These  are  mere  school  boys. 


30         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

The  sad  part  about  these  revolutions  is 
that,  as  a  rule,  there  is  very  little  moral 
principle  being  fought  for  on  either  side.  It 
is  simply  the  selfish  ambition  of  certain  men 
to  get  to  the  front.  The  Jesuit  priests  are 
known  by  all  who  have  studied  them,  read 
their  oaths  and  watched  the  countries  under 
their  baneful  influence,  to  be  the  greatest  in- 
\  stigators  of  war  on  earth. 

Add  to  this  the  fact  of  the  awful  ignorance 
prevailing  where  Romanism  has  kept  educa- 
tion from  the  people  for  nearly  four  hundred 
years,  and  it  is  easy  to  see  how  they  will 
fight  on  any  pretense.  The  one  who  is  vic- 
torious will  not  be  able  to  find  men  he  can 
(depend  upon  for  his  places  of  trust. 
The  lack  of  character,  which  can  only  be 
produced  by  the  reading  and  influence  of  the 
word  of  God,  is  very  much  manifested  in 
these  countries.  Their  only  hope  is  the  grand 
Old  Book. 

The  Bull  Fights. 

Five  men  and  one  woman  were  the  profes- 
sional bull  fighters  who  killed  the  six  bulls 
on  Sunday  afternoon.  This  was  done  to  the 
delight  of  several  thousand  people.  Among 
them,  fathers  with  their  children  and  moth- 
ers with  little  girls.  All  of  them  cheered 
loudly  when  a  spike  with  a  flag  on  it,  or  a 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         31 

sword  was  stuck  into  a  bull  to  bring  the 
blood  and  make  him  suffer. 

For  the  pleasure  of  the  crowd,  only  one 
bull  is  let  in  the  ring  at  a  time.  He  comes 
with  a  small  flag  or  colored  paper  nailed  to 
his  back  by  a  spike  driven  right  into  the 
flesh.  He  is  already  angry,  and  when  the 
door  is  thrown  open  he  rushes  in  with  his 
head  in  the  air  ready  to  fight  for  his  lib- 
erty. 

The  "ring"  is  about  150  feet  in  diameter. 
The  seats  extend  all  the  way  around  it,  the 
first  being  12  or  15  feet  above  the  ground. 
About  every  50  feet,  heavy  posts  are  put  up 
and  a  strong  wall  is  built  about  15  inches 
from  the  main  wall  just  high  enough  to  reach 
a  man's  chin.  Eight  of  these  are  placed  at 
regular  distances  around  the  ring  so  the  bull 
fighters  can  run  behind  them  for  protection 
and  the  enraged  animal  cannot  get  at  them 
with  his  head  and  horns. 

Perhaps  the  reader  does  not  know  that  a 
bull,  when  making  a  charge,  sees  his  object, 
then  shuts  his  eyes,  and  makes  his  charge. 
When  he  enters  the  ring,  the  band  is  play- 
ing; thousands  of  people  are  cheering,  and 
scattered  about  over  the  ring  are  the  fight- 
ers. They  are  all  guadily  dressed  in 
tights,  and  carrying  large  flags  or 
cloaks,  principally  of  red ;  these  they  wave 


32         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

in  the  air.  Finally  one  will  make  a  dash  for 
the  bull's  head,  stop  within  a  few  feet  of  him 
and  wave  the  red  cloak  in  a  daring  manner; 
dropping  his  head,  the  bull  makes  a  desperate 
dash,  closes  his  eyes  and  the  fighter  steps  a 
few  inches  to  one  side  and  allows  the  cloth 
to  drop  over  his  head.  The  animal  will  whirl 
and  make  another  dash,  but  this  trained 
fighter  tantalizes  him  until  the  other  five  run 
up  and  attract  his  attention.  The  bugle 
sounds  and  one  of  the  fighters  rushes  out 
with  two  sticks,  two  feet  long,  covered  with 
colored  paper  or  ribbons  and  a  spike  in  one 
end.  He  must  stick  both  of  these 
spikes  (one  in  each  hand)  into  the  animal 
near  the  shoulders  and  must  do  it  by  reach- 
ing over  the  head  while  the  bull  is  charging. 
At  times  he  will  sit  on  a  chair  and  tantalize 
the  animal  until  it  charges  on  him.  Just  as 
he  is  about  to  plunge,  the  man  springs  to  his 
feet  and  strikes  the  spikes  into  the  flesh  of 
this  poor  dumb  brute.  As  he  rushes  off  bel- 
lowing and  writhing  with  pain,  this  cham- 
pion (?)  lifts  his  hat  and  bows  with  a  smile 
to  the  cheering  crowd  of  men,  women  and 
children.  Of  course  the  blood  is  running  down 
the  animal's  sides,  but  the  more  blood,  the 
more  pleasure. 

Once  in  a  while  one  of  the  fighters  is  pick- 
ed up  on  the  horns  of  the  bull,  but  when  he 


is  again  on  his  feet  another  wild  cheer  is 
heard.  The  spike  and  flag  act  is  repeated  un- 
til six  of  them  have  been  planted  in  the  flesh 
of  this  suffering  animal.  The  blood  by  this 
time  is  very  conspicuous.  At  another  sound 
of  the  bugle,  the  champion  for  that  particular 
bull,  steps  out  with  his  sword  and  throws  his 
cap  aside.  He  carries  with  his  sword  a  small 
red  cloth  with  which  to  fool  the  animal,  for 
he  must  put  the  sword  in  to  the  hilt.  It  must 
enter  the  animal  between  his  shoulders  and 
run  down  2  1-2  to  3  feet  to  the  heart.  He 
must  be  in  front  of  the  bull's  head  when  the 
stroke  is  made  and  the  animal  must  be  mak- 
ing a  charge. 

When  this  instrument  of  death  enters,  the 
blood  flies  even  from  the  mouth  and  nose  of 
the  bull,  and  if  it  does  not  pierce  the  heart 
and  prove  instant  death,  he  charges  about 
after  them  with  the  blood  flying.  By  this 
time  the  crowd  is  almost  hysterical;  the  de- 
light is  past  expression.  Little  girls  from 
four  to  twelve  years  of  age,  clap  their  hands 
and  cry  with  pleasure.  When  the  animal 
falls,  a  team  of  horses  is  rushed  in,  hitched 
to  him  and  sent  out  at  a  gallop.  By  that  time 
the  waiting  crowd  of  well  dressed  people  are 
crying  and  calling  for  another. 

While  in  South  America  we  have  visited 
places  where  the  city  government  owns  the 
public  bull  ring,  and  in  it  on  holidays,  they 


34         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

furnish  the  bulls  and  have  a  "public"  or 
"free  bull  fight."  Everybody  is  admitted  to 
the  ring  and  any  one  who  cares  to  do  so,  can 
to.rture  and  kill  the  bull.  At  these  fights,  it 
is  not  uncommon  to  see  children,  women  or 
men  going  into  the  air  from  the  horns  of 
the  bull.  A  party  converted  in  our  meeting 
told  us  of  a  "public  bull  fight".  They  saw 
a  drunken  man  rush  into  the  ring.  The  bull 
gored  him  and  when  he  fell  from  the  horns 
of  the  animal,  he  was  practically  disembowel- 
ed, and  in  that  condition  he  lifted  his  hat  to 
the  crowd  while  they  cheered,  and  fell  dead. 

Read  the  oath  of  a  Jesuit  priest  and  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  the  only  secret  order 
in  the  Roman  church.  Then  remember  that 
the  book  teaching  "Blessed  are  the  merci- 
ful" and  containing  the  13th  chapter  of 
I  Corinthians  has  been  kept  away  from  this 
people  for  nearly  400  years  and  this  love  for 
cruelty  and  suffering  can  be  understood.  We 
have  seen  them  when  driving  cattle  to  the 
slaughter,  take  a  sharp  knife  and  plunge  it 
in  the  animal  and  then  laugh  as  it  gave  ex- 
pression to  the  suffering. 

Mercy  and  love  are  not  in  any  way  made  a 
part  of  the  religion  of  this  people.  Ninety- 
nine  out  of  every  one  hundred  mentioned  in 
these  lines  are  members  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic church.  They  have  had  Romanism  for 
over  300  years.  They  need  now  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         35 

CHAPTER  FOUR 
Callao,  Peru. 

Our  journey  from  Guayaquil,  Ecuador,  re- 
quired eight  days.  During  this  time  our  boat 
was  constantly  stopping  at  various  ports  in 
Peru,  loading  sugar  and  other  articles.  At 
four  or  five  places  we  took  on  cattle  until 
there  were  nearly  five  hundred  head  on  the 
vessel.  The  cattle  were  brought  out  to  the 
ship  in  big  flat  boats  called  "lighters",  out  of 
which  they  were  lifted  by  the  ship's  derrick. 
Sometimes  they  put  the  ropes  around  the 
horns  and  pulled  them  up  in  that  way.  When 
they  are  once  on  the  vessel  the  man  in  charge 
takes  after  them  with  a  pole  which  has  a 
sharp  spike  in  the  end.  The  treatment  of 
these  poor  dumb  brutes  is  cruel  in  the  ex- 
treme. 

The  entire  coast  line  of  Peru  from  Ecuador 
down  to  Chile,  is  perfectly  barren.  We  were 
told  that  it  is  common  to  build  houses  with- 
out a  roof,  except  some  trash  thrown  over 
to  keep  the  sun  out,  for  it  seldom  rains  there. 
In  fact,  we  saw  nice  houses  in  Callao  and 
Lima  built  practically  in  the  same  way,  for 
they  had  only  cane  or  bamboo  plastered  over 
with  mud.  I  was  told  by  a  missionary,  who 


36         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

entertained  us  in  a  house  of  this  kind,  that 
they  did  have  a  shower  once  and  the  water 
came  right  through. 

In  spite  of  the  absence  of  rain,  much  of 
the  territory  back  from  the  coast  is  made  to 
produce  by  means  of  irrigation.  Wherever  a 
stream  can  be  found,  ditches  are  cut  to  carry 
it  around  the  side  of  the  mountain.  They 
throw  up  the  ground  in  terraces  so  it  can  be 
flooded  with  water  and  the  land  is  thus  made 
very  productive. 

We  arrived  in  Callao  on  Friday  morning 
and  went  at  once  to  the  home  of  Rev^_Arch- 
ejrd.  superintendent  of  the  Methodist  Mission- 
ary work.  We  found  they  had  made  arrange- 
ments to  entertain  us  during  our  stay  in  the 
city.  After  getting  located,  we  went  out  to 
call  on  the  native  pastor,  Rev.  Adolfo  Vas- 
ques.  He  asked  us  to  take  the  service  that 
night,  as  it  was  their  regular  prayer  meet- 
ing. We  did  so  with  pleasure. 

The  attendance  at  this  prayer  meeting  was 
not  as  good  as  usual,  but  there  were  several 
more  people  at  prayer  meeting  than  they 
have  members  in  the  church.  The  Lord  was 
pleased  to  add  His  blessings  to  the  message 
and  we  saw  seventeen  people  kneel  in  the 
altar  when  we  invited  them  forward  for 
prayer. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         37 

Callao  is  the  principal  port  of  Peru,  and 
is  only  about  eight  miles  from  the  capital, 
Lima.  The  glory  of  Roman  Catholicism  here, 
like  all  coast  towns  and  cities,  is  waning.  All 
points  exposed  to  the  outside  world  lose 
much  of  their  superstition  as  the  light  and 
intelligence  breaks  in  upon  them.  I  find  the 
I  railroads  have  much  the  same  effect. 

The  only  thing  of  interest  to  a  tourist  in 
Callao  is  the  ruins  of  the  old  fort  of  St.  Phil- 1 
lip,  the  last  building  where  the  flag  of  Spain 
floated  on  the  main  land  of  the  new  world. 

We  continued  the  work  in  Callao  for  five 
nights,  and  on  Sunday  we  preached  to  an 
English  congregation  at  10:30  a.  m.  The  in- 
terest in  the  Spanish  services  increased  until 
the  last ;  we  never  had  less  than  25  in  the  al- 
tar after  the  first  night,  and  generally  it  was 
thirty  or  thirty-five.  The  meeting  continued 
after  we  sailed,  but  the  Methodist  pastor  had 
already  received  the  names  of  more  than  for- 
ty who  wanted  to  become  members  of  his 
church  before  we  left. 

The  superintendent  told  us  if  we  could 
continue  the  work  for  ten  days  or  two  weeks 
he  felt  certain  a  few  hundred  would  be  led 
to  the  Lord.  Our  time  was  limited  and  we 
were  compelled  to  sail  on  Wednesday. 


38         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Lima,  Capital  of  Peru. 

Lima  was  founded  on  June  6th,  1535,  by) 
Pizarro,  the  discoverer  of  the  great  Inca  Em- 
pire. This  being  a  great  day  with  the  Ro- 
man Catholics,  called  the  "day  of  the  kings," 
Pizarro  named  his  new  capital  "Ciudad  de 
Los  Reyes",  or  "City  of  the  Kings".  But  the 
name  was  soon  dropped  by  the  natives,  and 
during  the  first  century  after  it  was  founded 
the  name  was  changed  to  Lima.  "It  stands 
in  a  wide  flat  valley,  guarded  by  steep  moun- 
tains to  the  north,  on  both  banks  of  the  broad 
stony  bed  of  the  Rimac,  a  large  part  of  whose 
waters  has  been  diverted  for  irrigation. 

"Except  where  this  river  water  has  made 
cultivation  possible,  the  plain  is  bare,  being 
part  of  the  coastal  desert.  The  high  range 
of  hills  already  mentioned  guards  the  city  on 
the  north  and  runs  out  to  sea  on  the  north- 
west. Lofty  spurs  of  the  Andes  are  visible, 
to  the  east,  but  for  much  of  the  year  the 
clouds  hang  so  low  that  the  hills  are  hardly 
part  of  the  landscape  and  the  great  peaks 
are  seldom  seen. 

"As  in  most  Spanish-American  cities,    the 
/streets  are  narrow  and  straight,  cutting  one 
'another  at  right  angles.  One  is  at  first  sur- 
prised to  find  the  houses  extremely  low,  many 
of  one-story  and  hardly  any  (save  a  few  new 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         39 

residences  on  the  outskirts)  exceeding  two 
stories,  and  to  be  told  that  they  are  built  of 
bricks,  or  more  commonly  of  cane  and  reeds  \ 
plastered  with  mud.  It  is  commonly  said  that 
in  Lima  a  burglar  needs  nothing  more  than  a  \ 
bowl  of  water  and   a  sponge  to   soften   the  f 
plaster,  and  a  knife  to  cut  the  canes.     But 
the  reason  is  apparent  when  one  remembers 
that  no  place  on  the  West  coast  has  suffered 
more  from  earthquakes." 

Lima  is  about  eight  miles  from  Callao,  the 
port  of  entry,  and  can  be  reached  by  electric 
cars  running  every  six  minutes,  and  by 
steam  cars  every  twenty  minutes.  They  claim 
a  population  of  150,000  and  in  many  respects 
it  is  a  beautiful  city.  Like  all  Spanish  cities 
in  South  America,  it  is  laid  out  with  many  J 
plazas — parks. 

We  visited  many  places  of  interest  to  a 
Christian.  The  old  Inquisition  Hall  still 
stands  and  is  now  being  used  for  the  Senate 
Chamber.  In  going  through  this  horrible 
blood  chamber,  we  saw  the  very  door  that 
swung  there  in  the  sixteenth  century  when 
the  holy  (?)  priests  were  using  the  place  as 
a  court  room  in  which  to  try  "heretics".  This 
door  has  a  hole  in  it  where  the  witnesses 
could  stand  on  the  outside  and  testify 
through  it,  for  they  did  not  have  to  go  in  to 
the  trial  in  order  to  give  testimony. 


40         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Then  there  was  the  place  where  the  "here- 
tic" stood  while  being  tried.  In  those  days, 
just  in  front  of  the  accused  one  stood  a  very 
large  image  of  Christ.  After  the  evidence 
was  given  and  these  holy  (?)  representatives 
of  Jesus  Christ  had  learned  how  much  money 
the  accused  would  pay  the  holy  (?)  church 
to  be  forgiven,  they  then  asked  the  image 
of  Jesus  whether  or  not  the  accused  should 
be  burned,  in  reply  to  which  the  image  either 
nodded  or  shook  its  head. 

When  the  work  of  the  Inquisition  was  stop- 
ped by  the  government  they  found  an  under- 
ground passage  to  the  place  from  the  Mon- 
asteries of  the  city,  and  under  the  floor  there 
was  an  opening  into  this  large  image,  so  a 
priest  could  climb  into  it  at  the  trials,  and 
nod  or  shake  the  head  to  suit  the  purpose. 

From  the  Inquisition  Hall  we  went  down 
the  street  to  the  large  Plaza  in  front  of  the 
Cathedral,  where  the  condemned  "heretic" 
was  chained  to  the  stake  and  burned.  The 
buildings  surrounding  the  plaza  on  two  sides 
have  balconies,  or  second  story  porches, 
where  the  wealthy  society  ladies  would  gath- 
er and  witness  the  burning  of  the  "heretics." 

Facing  this  Plaza  is  the  old  church  said  to 
have  been  built  by  Pizarro  at  the  time  Lima 
was  founded.  Going  through  an  iron  gate 
into  a  side  room  near  one  of  the  principal  al- 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA        41 

tars  we  found  a  glass  case  with  a  skeleton 
in  it,  which  they  claim  are  the  bones  of  Pi- 
zarro,  the  discoverer  of  Peru. 

Only  a  few  days  before  we  visited  Lima, 
the  authorities  discovered  the  bones  of  85 
children  in  an  old  Catholic  church,  and  only 
a  few  months  before  this  the  bones  of  200 
children  were  found  in  the  old  Santo  Do- 
mingo church  across  the  river  in  the  older 
part  of  Lima.  We  went  over  to  see  this 
church  and  took  a  picture  of  it.  To  find  the 
bones  of  children  and  even  of  grown  people, 
about  Roman  churches,  Monasteries  and  Con- 
vents, is  a  very  common  thing.  We  reached 
La  Paz,  Bolivia,  just  a  few  days  after  the 
bones  were  discovered  at  the  door  of  an  old 
church  or  convent,  and  saw  the  men  digging 
where  the  bones  had  been  found. 

The  only  Christian  work  being  conducted 
in  Lima  is  by  the  Methodist  church  and  the 
Evangelical  Union  of  South  America.  The 
Methodists  have  a  good  school  and  two 
churches.  The  Evangelical  Union  has  a  school 
and  one  church.  Since  our  work  in  Callao  was 
with  the  Methodists,  we  held  services  in  Lima 
with  the  Evangelical  Union. 

In  our  opinion  the  opportunities  for  real 
evangelistic  work  in  Lima,  like  Callao,  are 
limitless. 


42         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Cuzco,  the  Old  Inca  Capital. 

The  journey  from  Arequipa  to  Cuzco  re- 
quires two  days  on  the  fast  train.  The  jour- 
ney is  broken  in  Juliaca,  where  we  spend  the 
night.  The  train  does  not  run  at  night.  Leav- 
ing Arequipa  at  an  elevation  of  about  8,000 
feet,  we  arrive  in  Cuzco  at  an  altitude  of 
about  12,000  feet. 

This  is,  in  all  probability,  the  oldest  city 
in  the  western  Hemisphere.  Various  writers 
differ  as  to  the  age  of  this  ancient  Inca  cap- 
ital, but  most  all  agree  that  it  dates  back  at 
least  300  years  before  the  Spanish  conquest 
of  1532-40.  While  it  is  believed  to  have  been 
1,000  years  old  when  discovered  and  conquer- 
ed by  Pizarro. 

While  Cuzco  is  the  oldest  of  any  city  in 
either  of  the  Americas,  it  is  no  doubt  the 
filthiest,  for  it  is  said  by  South  Americans  to 
be  such.  Of  its  sanitation  we  cannot  speak. 
The  morals  of  the  place  keep  close  pace  with 
the  sanitation.  We  doubt  if  there  is  a  more 
destitute  place  in  all  of  North  or  South 
America.  Dr.  Fenn,  the  missionary,  is  doing 
a  good  solid  work  in  the  place,  but  there  is 
little  hope  of  success  by  any  one  under  the 
present  circumstances,  for  a  very  small  per 
cent,  of  the  people  can  read. 

Some  of  the  conquerors  who  went  in  with 
Pizarro  declared  the  Indian  population  of  this 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         43 

old  capital  reached  200,000,   while  the  sub- 
urbs would  total  another  200,000.    The  tens 
of  thousands  who  were  slaughtered  by  the| 
Spanish  while  the  Roman  priests  urged  them 
on  can  hardly  be  imagined. 

The  old  Peruvian  Empire  stretched  over  all 
the  present  republics  of  Peru,  Bolivia,  Ecua- 
dor and  northern  Chile.  Cuzco  was  the  cap- 
ital. These  are  spoken  of  as  the  Inca  Indians 
because  of  the  name  of  the  ruler.  The  king 
of  the  Empire  was  called  the  "Inca".  But  the 
great  nation,  with  a  population  variously  es- 
timated at  10,000,000  to  40,000,000,  was 
made  up  of  various  nations  of  Indians  who 
were  conquered  from  time  to  time  by  the 
Inca  and  his  trained  armies.  Great  royal 
roads  extended  out  through  the  empire,  all  of 
them  running  into  the  capital  city.  These 
roads  were  not  built  for  carriages,  but  for 
the  footmen  and  the  llama.  In  many  places 
the  ascent  or  descent  of  a  steep  mountain 
was  by  stone  steps  cut  in  the  cliffs.  The  civ- 
ilization of  this  people  is  a  wonder  to  all  who 
come  in  touch  with  it.  In  religion  they  were 
very  earnest  Sun  worshippers.  The  land  of 
the  old  Peruvian  Empire  has  never  been  so 
scientifically  tilled  as  they  did  it.  Their  sys- 
tem of  irrigation  is  a  wonder  today.  From  / 
lakes  and  rivers  far  up  in  the  Andes  they 
brought  water  to  the  desert  districts  near  the 


44         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

coast.  These  aqueducts,  at  times  3x6  feet, 
were  cut  through  solid  stone  on  the  moun- 
tain sides ;  at  times  they  tunneled  the  moun- 
tains, and  built  the  canals  across  rivers  and 
mountain  torrents.  Some  of  these  aqueducts 
remain  today. 

Many  mountains  were  terraced  clear  up 
to  the  snow  line;  each  wall  being  built  of 
stone.  At  the  foot  of  the  mountain  they  pro- 
duced  tropical  vegetation;  half  way  up  the 
plant  life  changed,  and  near  the  top  they 
grew  what  we  have  in  our  most  northern 
climates. 

The  "Inca"  and  all  the  "Blood  Royal"  which 
numbered  many  thousands,  lived  in  real  pa- 
gan Indian  luxury  and  splendor.  Gold  was 
common ;  silver  they  had  in  abundance.  The 
royal  family  used  gold  vessels;  the  throne 
\  of  the  Inca  was  pure  gold.  The  temple  of  the 
^  sun  was  richly  decorated  with  pure  gold,  its 
value  amounting  to  millions  of  dollars. 
.  Strange  to  say,  they  had  not  in  all  their 
civilization  discovered  the  iron  and  its  use. 
Yet  their  art  as  stone  masons  is  not  equalled 
perhaps  on  earth.  While  in  Cuzco  we  visited 
the  ruins  of  old  palaces,  forts  and  the  old 
temple  of  the  Sun.  The  Santo  Domingo 
church  of  the  Roman  Catholics  is  built  on  the 
walls  and  ruins  of  the  old  temple.  We  went 
through  it  and  carefully  examined  the 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         45 

walls.  The  stones  are  all  put  together  with- 
out mortar,  and  the  joints  are  indeed  perfect. 
We  had  read  that  the  joints  could  be  cover- 
ed by  the  edge  of  a  knife  blade.  This  we 
tried  by  taking  the  thin  edge  of  our  knife 
blade  and  putting  it  on  the  joints. 

One  marvelous  thing  about  the  stone  work 
is  the  fact  that  the  stones  are  not  squared 
up.  The  face  of  the  stone  is  dressed  up,  or 
generally  left  in  an  oval  shape,  and  rather 
rough,  except  at  the  edge  where  the  joint 
is  to  be  made;  but  where  the  other  stones 
join  it  is  so  smooth  that  the  contact  is  per- 
fect. We  saw  one  stone  with  twelve  cor- 
ners, but  the  others  fit  right  to  it  at  every 
point. 

The  old  fort  is  one  of  the  wonders  to  all 
who  visit  Cuzco.  It  is  located  on  a  high  and 
steep  spur  of  the  mountain  overlooking  the 
city.  The  location  is  such  that  on  one  occa- 
sion the  Indians  held  the  fort  after  the  city 
had  been  captured,  and  their  slaughter  of 
the  Spaniards  by  hurling  stones  down  on  the 
city  from  the  fort  was  tremendous. 

After  a  hard  climb  we  finally  reached  the 
back  of  the  fort,  which  is  the  front  so 
far  as  the  enemy  would  be  concerned.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  take  it  from  the  side 
next  to  the  city  as  the  mountain  is  so  steep. 
On  the  other  side  it  faces  a  level  place  of  con- 


46         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

siderable  distance.  Here  we  found  the  great 
Inca  stone  work.  The  fort  has  three  walls, 
each  of  them  several  hundred  feet  in  length. 
The  distance  between  the  walls  is  perhaps 
15  to  25  feet,  each  one  rising  above  the  other. 

The  size  of  the  stone  used  in  these  im- 
mense walls  is  almost  unbelievable.  Some  of 
them  we  measured;  one  which  was  in  a  cor- 
ner with  two  sides  exposed,  we  found  to  be 
seven  feet  wide  on  one  side  and  nine  feet  on 
the  other,  while  it  was  more  than  twenty  feet 
above  the  ground,  and  no  doubt  several  feet 
beneath.  Among  others  larger  than 
these,  one  was  more  than  fifteen  feet  square 
in  the  straight  wall.  These  also  are  put  up 
without  mortar,  and  the  joints  are  such  as 
would  do  credit  today  to  a  stone  mansion 
in  one  of  our  American  cities. 

Just  across  the  little  level  plain  in  front  of 
the  fort  the  bluff  and  cliffs  began  again,  but 
each  cliff  or  bluff  had  much  carving  and 
stone  cutting  on  it.  Two  or  three  were  cut 
into  seats,  one  rising  above  the  other,  and 
these  are  called  thrones.  One  place  was  in 
such  a  shape  as  to  indicate  a  bath  and  it  is 
called  the  "Royal,  or  Inca  Bath".  Across  on 
another  hill,  or  spur,  of  the  mountain  we 
found  even  more  magnificent  cuttings  and 
carvings.  In  one  place  they  had  cut  in  un- 
der the  cliff  of  stone,  and  back  in  the  cave 
we  found  what  they  called  the  altar. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         47 

To  the  writer  the  most  wonderful  part 
of  it  all  is  the  quarry  and  its  location.  Leav- 
ing the  old  fort  we  descended  the  side  of  the 
hill  to  the  little  stream  called  the  "river". 
Crossing  the  ravine  we  climbed  perhaps  300 
feet  up  the  side  of  the  next  mountain  and 
found  an  immense  pile  of  broken  scrap  stone, 
extending  far  along  the  side  of  the  mountain, 
and  perhaps  fifty  or  one  hundred  feet  high. 
Going  still  higher  we  reached  a  position  to  one 
side  of  the  scrap  stone  where  we  could  see  the 
great  excavation  in  the  side  of  the  mountain 
and  the  immense  quarry  back  of  it.  In  the 
bottom  of  this  excavation  were  stones  of  all 
sizes,  partially  prepared.  Here  history  and 
reason  seem  to  point  out  to  the  traveler  the 
quarry  from  which  the  great  stones  of  the 
fort  were  cut  out.  They  must  have  been 
taken  from  the  quarry,  down  the  mountain 
side,  across  the  ravine,  up  the  next  mountain 
and  then  placed  in  their  respective  positions. 

How  did  they  cut  the  stones  without  the 
use  of  iron  and  steel?  How  did  they  convey 
them  to  the  fort  on  the  opposite  hill  ?  How 
did  they  locate  them  after  they  were  there  ? 
These  are  the  questions  naturally  asked  by 
all  who  see  for  themselves.  The  answer  still 
remains,  "How?" 


48        TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

CHAPTER   FIVE 
Bolivia. 

Bolivia  is  the  fourth  largest  Republic  of 
Latin  America;  in  fact,  Bolivians  say  it  is 
the  third  largest.  There  could  be  placed  in 
the  area  of  Bolivia  the  combined  areas  of 
the  states  of  California,  Nevada,  Utah,  Idaho, 
Oregon  and  Washington.  It  covers  708,195 
square  miles,  and  lies  mostly  in  the  tropics. 
But  the  elevation  of  most  of  Bolivia  gives  it 
a  temperate  climate. 

No  Latin-American  country  has  made  the 
progress  during  the  last  ten  years  in  shaking 
off  the  superstitious  and  tyrannical  rule  of 
the  Roman  church  that  Bolivia  has. 

La  Paz,  the  capital,  is  about  12,000  feet 
above  sea  level,  but  in  approaching  the  city, 
the  traveler  reaches  the  top  of  a  mountain  on 
the  train  and  the  first  sight  of  La  Paz  is  from 
this  elevation  where  the  city  is  seen  lying  in 
a  valley  below.  It  is  reached  by  a  trolley 
car  from  the  top  of  the  mountain,  which 
winds  down  five  hundred  feet  to  the  city. 

The  foreign  commerce  of  Bolivia  is  esti- 
mated at  about  $40,000,000.  Its  chief  exports 
are  rubber,  silver,  copper,  bismuth,  cacao, 
wolfram  (tungsten).  La  Paz  is  the  highest 
seat  of  government  in  the  western  hemis- 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         49 

phere.  It  is  approached  from  the  western 
coast  of  South  America  either  through  Chile 
or  Peru,  since  Bolivia  has  no  coast  line  of  its 
own. 

The  population  of  Bolivia  is  estimated  at 
about  two  and  one-half  million  people. 

The  La  Paz  Meeting. 

We  had  not  written  any  one  in  La  Paz, 
Bolivia,  that  we  were  coming,  but  missionar- 
ies from  other  places  we  had  visited  had  no- 
tified them  of  our  proposed  visit.  We  were 
met  at  the  depot  by  Rev.  Baker  of  the  Bap- 
tist mission  and  Rev.  Hartzel  of  the  Metho- 
dist mission.  Since  we  were  not  expecting  to 
be  met  by  any  one,  we  had  arranged  with  an 
American  commercial  traveler  to  help  us  to 
a  hotel;  but  as  we  pushed  out  through  the 
crowd  on  the  platform,  Brother  Reid  heard 
someone  say  in  English,  "I  would  not  know 
Taylor,  for  I  never  saw  him."  I  spoke  loud 
enough  to  be  heard,  and  asked  in  English, 
"Who  is  it  that  doesn't  know  Taylor?"  The 
result  of  my  question  was  that  we  met  the 
missionaries  who  had  come  for  us,  passed 
by  the  hotel  for  our  baggage  and  moved 
it  to  Bro.  Hartzel's  home,  where  we  spent  the 
time  while  in  La  Paz. 

The  meetings  in  that  city,  like  most  of  our 
work  on  the  campaign,  were  of  a  union  char- 


50         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

acter.  We  are  thankful  to  say  that  in  many 
places  in  South  America  the  missionaries 
have  a  far  greater  spirit  of  oneness  than  the 
same  churches  generally  have  in  the  United 
States.  We  have  assisted  in  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per when  we  had  Baptist,  Presbyterian, 
Methodist  and  Dutch  Reform  pastors  officiat- 
ing. This,  of  course,  gives  the  natives  a  far 
greater  confidence  in  what  we  preach. 

In  La  Paz  the  Methodist  church  has  a  large 
school  for  boys  and  a  smaller  one  for  girls. 
We  had  the  privilege  of  working  among  the 
students  and  many  of  them  attended  the 
meetings  every  night.  From  this  student 
body  we  saw  seekers  in  the  altar  every  night, 
and  we  believe  that  from  the  students  saved 
in  this  meeting  we  will  have  some  native 
preachers  in  the  near  future.  Brother  Bak- 
er, the  superintendent  of  the  Baptist  work, 
is  from  Edmonton,  Calgary,  Canada.  He  has 
been  in  La  Paz  several  years;  he  knows  the 
Spanish  language  perfectly  and  proved  a  fine 
interpreter. 

The  work  was  conducted  in  the  Methodist 
and  Baptist  churches,  with  some  extra  ser- 
vices held  in  the  college.  We  saw  the  altar 
crowded  the  first  night  and  from  that  hour 
the  interest  increased. 

A  woman  who  had  been  attending  the  Pro- 
testant meetings  for  some  time  in  the  past, 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         51 

came  to  the  altar  one  night,  and  when  she 
met  the  Methodist  missionary  the  next  day 
she  said,  "Well,  Brother  Hartzel,  I  am  done 
selling  beer  in  my  store.  I  settled  it  last  night 
in  the  altar." 

It  would  be  hard  to  state  how  many  were 
in  the  altar  during  the  meeting;  there  were 
from  25  to  50  every  night,  but  many  of  these 
were  forward  two  or  more  evenings.  The 
only  regret  we  had  in  connection  with  the 
work  was  the  fact  that  we  could  not  remain 
longer.  The  missionaries  and  teachers  seem- 
ed to  be  much  helped  in  their  own  hearts  and 
lives,  many  of  them  said  the  meetings  had 
done  them  more  good  than  it  did  the  natives. 
Everywhere  we  go  they  tell  us  the  same  story  1 
about  their  own  personal  need  of  a  new  evan-  j 
gelist  coming  to  them  so  they  can  get  person- 
al help  in  their  own  hearts.  If  we  at  home 
need  camp  meetings  and  revivals,  what  about 
the  missionaries  on  the  field  without  any  help 
from  without. 

La  Paz  is  the  capital  of  Bolivia  and  the  last 
ten  years  they  have  taken  great  steps  along 
liberal  lines.  In  these  South  American  coun- 
tries it  is  common  for  them  to  pass  national  \ 
laws  and  enforce  them  in  the  capital  and  oth-  | 
er  prominent  cities,  while  in  towns  and  cities 
back  in  the  interior  the  new  laws  are  possi- 
bly never  heard  of  and  the  Roman  Catholic 


52         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

element  continue  with  everything  to  their 
own  liking. 

This  is  true  in  Bolivia.  In  the  last  ten  years 
liberal  laws  have  been  enacted,  and  La  Paz 
being  the  capital,  gets  the  full  benefit  of 
them.  The  power  of  the  Roman  priest  has 
been  wonderfully  curtailed  and  his  liberties, 
once  great,  are  also  being  taken  from  him, 
so  that  now  it  is  very  common  to  arrest  a 
priest  and  put  him  in  prison  for  stealing, 
or  for  raping  some  young  girl.  Their  sins 
with  young  boys  are  also  being  watched  and 
prosecuted. 

One  order  of  priests  in  La  Paz  were  looked 
upon  as  altogether  unprofitable  to  the  coun- 
try because  of  their  work,  so  one  week  be- 
fore we  reached  the  place  they  were  or- 
dered to  leave  the  country  on  Sunday  and 
their  property  was  taken  by  the  government. 
The  Roman  church  being  the  state  church  of 
Bolivia,  the  property  does  not  belong  to 
the  church,  but  to  the  government  and  when 
they  decide  it  is  not  proving  profitable  to 
the  country,  they  claim  the  right  to  take  the 
property  away  from  the  church  and  use  it 
for  other  purposes. 

One  thing  encouraging  about  the  future 
outlook  for  Bolivia  is  the  open  position  taken 
by  the  daily  papers  of  the  country.  While 
we  were  in  the  place  there  was  hardly  a  day 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         53 

but  what  one  of  the  papers  would  come  out 
with  the  facts  about  some  priest  stealing 
money,  or  the  common  story  of  the  priest 
and  the  woman.  They  published  cases  of 
priests  outraging  the  wives  of  other  men, 
and  raping  little  girls  only  12  or  14  years  of 
age.  One  case  was  published  of  a  priest  who 
is  now  in  prison  for  concealing  a  girl  he  had 
outraged  and  kept  her  hid  from  her  mother. 
He  even  went  to  pray  with  the  mother  and 
gave  her  sympathy  over  the  loss  of  her 
daughter  while  he  had  the  girl  in  his  own 
home. 

Opportunities  in  Bolivia  are  not  wanting; 
there  is  only  one  problem  and  that  is,  what 
about  workers  to  take  advantage  of  them  ? 


54         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

CHAPTER  SIX 
Chile. 

This  most  southern  country  of  South  Am- 
erica on  the  Pacific  coast  is  remarkable  in  its 
location  and  extent,  as  can  be  better  appre- 
ciated by  a  little  comparison.  The  length  of 
Chile  from  Peru  to  the  Straits  would  extend 
the  full  length  of  California,  Washington, 
Oregon,  British  Colombia,  and  into  the  heart 
of  Alaska.  Except  Egypt  there  is  not  a 
country  in  the  world  so  strangely  formed. 

Egypt  is  700  miles  long  and  except  in  one 
place,  is  nowhere  more  than  twelve  miles 
wide;  Chile  is  nearly  three  thousand  miles 
long,  and  nowhere  more  than  130  miles  wide, 
and  for  the  most  part,  much  narrower. 

Much  of  Chilean  territory  is  a  barren  des- 
ert. Yet  this  is  one  of  the  most  noted  countries 
in  South  America.  Revolutions  are  rarely 
known.  They  have  a  well  trained  army,  us- 
ing German  tactics  and  instructors.  Her  navy 
is  not  to  be  laughed  at. 

The  area  covered  by  this  republic  is  about 
300,000  square  miles.  The  population  is  near- 
ly four  million.  Chile's  foreign  trade  is  es- 
x,,  timated  at  about  $204,000,000.  The  princi- 
"\  pal  exports  are  sulphur,  copper,  nitrates,  bo- 
Urax,  silver  and  other  minerals. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         55 

Santiago,  the  capital,  with  her  suburbs, 
has  a  population  of  about  500,000.  Valpar- 
aiso is  the  main  port  of  entry  and  with  her 
suburbs  becomes  the  second  city  of  the  re- 
public with  a  population  of  about  200,000. 

To  the  credit  of  Chile  it  should  be  stated 
that  bull  fights  have  been  stopped  in  this 
progressive  republic  of  South  America.  The 
missionary  societies  of  the  Presbyterian  and 
Methodist  Episcopal  churches  are  doing  quite 
an  extensive  educational  work,  which  seems 
to  be  highly  appreciated  and  patronized  by 
the  best  families.  That  part  of  school  work 
conducted  among  the  better  classes  is  en- 
tirely self-supporting,  the  only  difficulty  being 
the  question  of  securing  proper  American 
teachers  for  the  schools. 

In  our  four  days'  work  in  the  capital  we 
had  the  privilege  of  seeing  several  young 
women  from  the  Santiago  College  beautifully 
saved.  These  represented  some  of  the  lead- 
ing families  of  the  country.  If  this  college 
could  be  equipped  with  sane,  well  saved,  well 
trained  teachers,  it  would  prove  one  of  the 
greatest  instruments  in  the  republic  for  the 
evangelization  of  the  people.  The  women  of 
the  country  are  the  only  ones  being  held  by 
the  Roman  church.  Hence,  the  work  among 
the  girls  in  the  religious  schools  proves  an 
inroad  to  the  best  women  of  the  country. 


56         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

The  Meeting  in   Valparaiso. 

It  was  Monday  morning  when  our  vessel 
dropped  anchor  in  the  bay  at  Valparaiso, 
Chile.  Our  friend,  Mr.  Wilgon,  a  Scotchman, 
returning  to  his  home  from  Bolivia,  very 
kindly  secured  a  boatman  for  us  and  went 
ashore  to  help  us  in  passing  customs. 

While  we  were  in  the  custom  house  hav- 
ing our  baggage  examined,  the  Methodist 
missionary  came  and  searched  us  out  from 
the  crowd.  After  the  customary  examina- 
tion, Bro.  Elpjiick,  the  missionary,  soon  had 
our  trunks  piled  on  the  back  of  an  old  horse 
and  in  a  two  wheeled  cart  ready  for  our  re- 
spective homes.  We  were  informed  that  the 
meetings  had  been  announced  to  begin  that 
Monday  night  and  were  to  be  of  a  union  char- 
acter between  the  Presbyterians  and  Metho- 
dists. The  Salvation  Army  also  joined  with 
us  later  on. 

Brother  Reid  was  to  be  entertained  in  the 
home  of  the  superintendent  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian work  of  the  district.  When  he  came  for 
Bro.  Reid  he  and  the  writer  found  we  were 
from  the  same  town  and  had  been  educated 
in  the  same  school.  My  work  with  Brother 
Elmore  was  the  most  pleasant  and  we  en- 
joyed our  conversations  about  boyhood  days. 

The  first  service  was  held  in  the  Presby- 
terian church.  The  congregation  was  large, 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         57 

conviction  rested  on  the  people,  and  when  we 
made  the  altar  call  more  than  twenty-five 
came  at  once  to  the  front  for  prayer  and  in- 
struction. 

The  service  on  Tuesday  night  was  in  the 
large  Methodist  church,  which  was  at  one 
time  the  most  prosperous  and  having  the 
largest  membership  of  any  on  the  west  coast, 
if  not  in  all  South  America.  But  a  few  years 
ago  the  teaching  of  "tongues"  broke  out,  and 
the  result  was  the  church  was  ruined,  and 
over  three  hundred  members  left.  Many  of 
the  very  best  people  left,  and  of  those  who 
remained  some  are  far  from  spiritual,  while 
others  are  so  fearful  that  further  fanati- 
cism will  break  out  among  them  that  it  was 
rather  difficult  in  the  beginning,  to  get  the 
members  to  take  any  stand  and  make  any 
move.  The  Lord  was  pleased  to  help  me  in 
preaching  His  word  the  first  service  and  we 
saw  perhaps  forty  or  more  kneel  in  the 
altar  seeking  Jesus.  The  Spirit's  presence 
was  very  manifest;  the  penitents  wept  and 
prayed,  while  real  victory  seemed  to  come 
to  every  waiting  heart. 

The  meetings  continued  to  gain  interest 
and  power  at  each  service.  On  Thursday 
night  we  saw  more  than  fifty  in  the  altar 
seeking  God;  and  the  last  night,  which  was 
Friday,  we  had  between  75  and  100  seekers. 


58         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

During  the  meeting  I  had  the  privilege  of 
speaking  in  the  schools  of  the  Presbyterian 
church.  One  night  a  father  came  to  us  at 
the  close  of  the  service  and  said:  "My  little 
boy  heard  you  speak  in  the  school  today  and 
told  me  that  when  you  asked  all  who  wanted 
to  be  saved  and  follow  Jesus  to  take  their 
stand,  he  did  so."  The  man  was  so  delighted 
he  could  hardly  contain  his  joy. 

The  interest  and  power  increased  from  the 
first  service  until  the  last  and  closing  hour. 
We  closed  with  them  begging  for  the  work  to 
be  continued.  Judging  from  what  we  saw 
during  the  five  nights,  right  in  the  middle 
of  the  week,  without  even  one  Sunday,  we 
believe  that  two  or  three  weeks  spent  in  that 
city  under  the  blessings  of  the  Spirit  would 
result  in  a  few  thousand  people  seeking  God. 

It  really  looks  like  a  crime  to  see  the 
churches  at  home  just  as  good  as  throw  away 
money,  when  it  would  accomplish  wondrous 
things  down  here  for  God  and  souls. 

Needs  of  Valparaiso. 

This  is  the  principal  port  of  Chile  and  is  a 
city  of  200,000  people,  if  the  suburbs  are  in- 
cluded. The  principal  forces  at  work  there 
for  the  spreading  of  the  Gospel  are  the 
Methodists  and  Presbyterians,  and  their  ef- 
forts are  not  at  all  in  keeping  with  the  needs 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         59 

of  the  place.  When  the  Protestant  church 
members  and  those  who  attend  the  services 
are  all  included  we  were  told  by  the  mission- 
aries who  labor  there,  that  not  5,000  people 
are  touched  or  influenced  by  Gospel  work. 
In  fact,  to  use  their  own  figure  there  are  not 
one-half  that  number. 

It  is  easy  to  reach  them,  for  they  are  not 
at  all  a  fanatical  people.  In  fact,  the  Roman 
fanaticism  so  common  in  the  past  and  even 
found  at  the  present  in  the  interior  is  seldom 
manifest  in  the  coast  towns  and  cities  of 
South  or  Central  America.  If  Valparaiso  was 
as  well  supplied  with  churches  as  cities  of  its 
size  in  the  States  it  would  have  about  100, 
but  if  it  only  had  ten,  the  condition  would  be 
far  brighter  than  at  present. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  church  owns  one 
building,  and  I  believe  the  Presbyterians  are 
one  ahead  of  the  Methodists.  More  missions 
and   missionaries  are  badly   needed  in   this 
city,  but  in  our  opinion  one  of  the  greatest* 
needs  at  present  is  twelve  or  fifteen  mission] 
day  schools,  where  the  children  can  be  gath-J 
ered  together  for  education,  and  it  made  a 
Christian  education. 

The  Presbyterians  are  trying  this  on  a 
small  scale  and  find  it  a  very  profitable  way 
of  reaching,  not  only  the  children,  but  their 
parents.  Many  of  these  schools  could  be 


60         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

taught  by  natives  and  superintended  by 
some  well  educated  person  from  home.  All 
these  school  rooms  could  be  used  on  Sundays 
for  Sunday  School  and  other  religious  ser- 
vices. 

The  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of  such 
work  in  Valparaiso,  as  well  as  other  parts,  is 
not  only  the  lack  of  money  to  finance  the 
schools,  but  the  teachers.  Here  is  a  golden 
opportunity  for  some  godly  young  woman  and 
especially  for  young  married  people  who  are 
teachers  and  want  to  help  bring  the  world  to 
Jesus  Christ. 

In  this  great  city  of  Valparaiso  we  found 
the  mass  of  people  seemingly  hungry  for 
God.  Our  congregation  grew  from  the  first 
service,  and  the  numbers  at  the  altar  increas- 
ed during  the  four  nights  from  twenty-five 
on  Monday  night  to  seventy-five  or  a  hun- 
dred on  Friday  night,  the  last  service. 

The  needs  in  this  city  are  not  peculiar  to 
themselves,  for  the  whole  country  of  Chile, 
and  in  fact,  the  other  countries  offer  the 
same  needs  and  possibilities.  It  would  be  a 
pleasure  to  correspond  with  any  who  are  in- 
terested in  going  to  Valparaiso. 

Santiago  Meeting. 

Santiago  is  the  capital  of  Chile.  It  is  a  beau- 
tiful city  and  with  its  suburbs  has  a  popula- 
tion of  about  500,000.  To  reach  it  from  the 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         61 

coast,  the  government  railroad  runs  up  from 
Valparaiso,  crossing  one  range  of  mountains 
or  foothills,  to  the  capital  nestled  up  at  the 
foot  of  the  snow-clad  Andes,  in  a  beautiful 
valley  between  these  foothills  and  the  real 
Andean  range. 

The  buildings  are  not  high  for  they  have  to , 
build  for  earthquakes,  which  occur  very  fre- 
quently. 

We  reached  Santiago  late  in  the  afternoon 
on  Saturday,  and  were  met  at  the  depot  by 
Rev.  Tester,  the  Methodist  Superintendent  of 
the  Santiago  District ;  Prof.  Shelley,  the  head 
of  the  Santiago  College  for  Young  Women; 
and  Mr.  Schilling,  who  has  charge  of  the 
MethodisFpublishing  plant  of  the  city.  Upon 
arriving  at  the  home  of  Bro.  Teeter  we  found 
Dr.  Brownjng,  Superintendent  of  the  Boys 
College,  waiting  for  us.  They  informed  us 
that  upon  learning,  through  others,  of  our 
visit  to  the  city,  a  committee  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  the  Methodists  and  Presbyterians 
to  arrange  a  program  for  union  meetings. 
This  program  provided  for  four  sermons  the 
next  day,  Sunday.  We  had  worked  hard  ev- 
ery night  since  landing  in  Chile,  so  we  de- 
cided to  retire  early  and  look  to  the  Lord  for 
a  good  night  of  rest. 

Sunday,  our  first  day  in  the  city,  was  a 
full  one.  At  nine  a.  m.  we  preached  to  the 


62         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

young  women  of  Santiago  College.  Several 
expressed  their  desire  to  be  saved  from  sin. 
The  Union  Church  of  Santiago  is  a  Presby- 
terian church  for  English-speaking  people, 
and  here  we  were  to  preach  sermon  number 
two  at  10:30.  His  presence  was  manifested, 
and  the  service  seemed  to  be  a  profitable  one. 
In  our  sermons  to  Americans  and  Europeans 
in  these  countries,  we  always  tried  to  im- 
press them  with  the  fact  that  God  has  them 
there  for  a  purpose  and  that  is  to  lead  these 
people  to  Jesus. 

We  had  the  privilege  at  four  p.  m.  of  lec- 
turing to  men  only  in  one  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches  for  Spanish-speaking  people.  Rev. 
Mr.  Boomer,  a  missionary  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  acted  as  interpreter.  We  spoke  to 
these  men  on  social  purity  and  kindred  sub- 
jects. The  Lord  was  pleased  to  bless  the  mes- 
sage and  we  saw  an  altar  full  of  men  seeking 
God  at  the  close  of  the  talk. 

The  fourth  sermon  of  the  day  was  in  the 
First  Methodist  church  at  eight  o'clock.  We 
had  a  good  congregation  present.  Brother 
Standen,  a  promising  young  Methodist  mis- 
sionary interpreted  for  us.  and  did  his  work 
well.  The  question  of  what  kind  of  an  inter- 
preter one  has  is  almost  as  important  as  the 
kind  of  a  preacher  you  have.  The  interpreter 
can  help  or  hinder  the  preacher.  The  power 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         63 

of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  present  and  convic- 
tion rested  on  the  people.  When  we  made 
the  altar  call,  we  saw  about  seventy-five  come 
quickly  and  gladly  to  give  their  hearts  to 
God. 

The  work  continued  from  Sunday  for  three 
more  nights  with  increasing  interest  at  each 
service.  There  were  many  advantages  in 
changing  the  services  each  night  to  a  differ- 
ent church,  which  put  us  in  different  parts  of 
the  city,  but  on  the  other  hand  it  had  its  dis- 
advantages, in  that  we  had  a  new  and  strange 
congregation  each  time  and  were  not  able  to 
build  around  us  one  night  a  band  of  prayer 
and  faith  for  the  next  night. 

However,  we  were  gladdened  to  see  altars 
filled  with  men  and  women  seeking  God  at 
each  place  and  best  of  all  was  the  work 
among  the  members  of  the  different  church- 
es, and  the  blessed  reviving  to  which  the  mis- 
sionaries themselves  testified. 

In  Southern  Chile. 

It  is  not  always  easy  to  decide  just  how 
to  divide  four  or  five  days  when  the  mission- 
aries at  several  places  are  begging,  writing 
and  wiring  for  even  one  service.  From  the 
time  we  arrived  in  Chile  we  were  urged  to 
go  down  to  Temuco,  in  Southern  Chile,  for  a 
few  services.  To  reach  Temuco  we  must 


64         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

travel  a  few  hundred  miles  on  the  train  from 
the  capital,  Santiago,  and  return  there  in  or- 
der to  get  across  the  Andes  to  Argentine.  It 
did  not  look  like  the  wise  thing  to  do,  es- 
pecially when  we  found  it  would  only  be 
possible  to  spent  two  nights  in  the  place. 

After  much  prayer,  and  consulting  with 
the  missionaries,  we  decided  to  go,  and  wired 
them  to  that  effect.  We  allotted  them  Thurs- 
day and  Friday  nights.  Just  a  day  or  so  be- 
fore we  were  ready  to  go,  we  found  that  in- 
stead of  taking  us  all  day  on  the  train  we 
must  travel  all  night  and  until  two  o'clock  the 
next  afternoon  in  order  to  reach  the  place. 
"What  shall  we  do  ?"  I  asked  all  the  mission- 
aries, and  every  one  answered,  "you  must 
go;  it  will  not  do  to  leave  Temuco  out.  You 
can  have  a  good  revival  in  one  night,"  they 
declared. 

Since  go  we  must,  go  we  did,  and  when  we 
arrived,  after  spending  twenty  hours  on  the 
train,  it  was  raining  hard,  and  oh,  how  mud- 
dy it  was.  Bro.  Valenzuela,  the  pastor,  piled 
us  into  a  cab  and  we  were  soon  on  the  way. 
Suddenly  he  stopped  the  driver,  after  having 
driven  several  blocks,  and  turning  to  us  said, 
"Now,  Bro.  Taylor,  the  Episcopalians  have  a 
school  here  with  nearly  two  hundred  schol- 
ars, and  the  man  in  charge  is  holding  the 
pupils  for  your  train  to  get  in  so  you  can 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         65 

preach  to  them;  we  will  just  stop  now  for 
this  service  and  then  go  to  your  rooms." 

It  was  2  p.  m.  and  we  had  not  had  break- 
fast; we  had  been  on  the  train  for  twenty 
hours,  but  what  of  that  ?  We  are  missionar- 
ies and  they  are  supposed  to  be  "minute 
men".  I  turned  to  the  presiding  elder,  who 
was  my  companion  on  the  trip,  and  he  smiled 
as  he  said,  "Well,  I  guess  we  can  wait  for 
breakfast  until  supper  time." 

Missionary  Presiding  Elders  often  have 
to  rough  it  like  others.  I  worked  with  one 
in  Bolivia  who  said  when  he  met  me  at  the 
train,  "I  have  not  announced  the  meeting 
so  very  well,  for  I  have  just  returned  from  a 
two  hundred  mile  trip  down  in  the  interior, 
where  I  opened  up  a  new  mission  station."  I 
inquired  how  he  had  traveled  on  that  trip. 
"Oh,"  he  replied,  "on  foot,  of  course ;  I  often 
take  such  trips  and  enjoy  them." 

We  were  soon  in  the  building,  which  is  a 
large  one,  for  they  have  a  boarding  school. 
The  professor  in  charge  informed  me  the 
scholars  were  all  ready  in  the  gymnasium. 
When  we  walked  in  we  found  nearly  two 
hundred  standing  and  there  they  stood  for 
the  sermon.  (All  who  have  heard  me  preach 
can  bear  witness  that  they  were  tired  before 
I  got  through). 


66         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

We  asked  the  professor  if  the  children  were 
Catholics,  and  along  what  line  we  should 
preach.  "Yes,  there  are  about  fifty  Roman 
Catholics  here,  but  they  know  we  teach  the 
Bible  and  you  can  feel  free  to  preach  just 
what  God  gives  you,"  and  we  did.  Many 
asked  to  be  prayed  for. 

After  this  service  we  drove  on  to  the  par- 
sonage where  we  found  a  good  warm  break- 
fast waiting  for  us  at  4  p.  m.  We  then  spent 
sometime  looking  over  the  mission  property 
consulting  as  to  various  improvements  which 
were  needed.  We  crawled  under  one  house 
and  helped  them  decide  where  to  fill  in  and 
how  to  put  up  some  gutters  on  the  church  to 
keep  the  water  out. 

The  evening  service  began  at  8  p.  m.  When 
we  walked  in  we  found  the  church  well  filled. 
In  the  simplest  manner  we  knew  how  we 
preached  to  them  salvation  through  Jesus 
Christ.  When  we  made  the  altar  call  we  did 
not  insist,  we  did  not  even  sing;  but  sixty) 
people  walked  out  and  down  the  aisles,  knelt  I 
at  the  altar,  wept  and  prayed  God  to  forgive 
their  sins.  Nearly  all  were  men  and  women, 
in  fact,  most  of  them  were  men.  Thus  closed 
a  one  day  revival.  Was  it  worth  while?  Did 
it  pay? 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         67 

Concept-ion,  Chile. 

After  our  day  in  Temuco  we  had  to  leave 
early  the  next  morning  for  Concepcion,  which 
is  the  third  largest  city  in  the  republic,  with 
a  population  of  75,000.  In  order  that  we 
might  make  certain  of  a  good  interpreter,  we 
took  the  pastor  from  Temuco  with  us  up  to 
Concepcion.  This  journey  required  another 
whole  day  on  the  train,  for  we  did  not  arrive 
until  night. 

When  we  reached  the  city,  Brothers  Arms 
and  Campbell,  presidents  of  the  Girls'  Col- 
lege and  Boys'  College,  and  Brother  Verifigas, 
the  District  Superintendent  of  the  district, 
were  at  the  depot  to  meet  us.  We  had  al- 
ready heard  from  them  by  wire,  regarding 
entertainment,  and  had  wired  back  that  we 
preferred  to  spend  Saturday  night  in  the 
Boys'  College  and  Sunday  night  in  the  Col- 
lege for  young  ladies. 

We  were  soon  hurried  off  to  our  home  for 
the  night,  but  there  was  very  little  rest  as  a 
service  was  announced  for  that  night.  True, 
it  was  Saturday  night,  and  the  final  telegram 
telling  them  we  would  be  there,  had  been  de- 
layed and  did  not  reach  them  until  Saturday 
morning ;  but  what  of  that  ?  The  gymnasium 
of  the  Girls'  College  had  been  converted  into 
an  auditorium  as  it  was  the  largest  place  we 


68         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

could  have;  and  when  the  hour  for  services 
arrived,  we  had  a  large  and  attentive  con- 
gregation. The  number  expressing  a  desire  to 
be  saved  was  also  large. 

Sunday  was  the  only  day  we  could  remain 
in  Concepcion,  so  we  felt  we  should  make  it  a 
full  day.  After  preaching  in  English  at  10:30 
a.  m.  we  had  a  fine  after-service  in  which 
many  sought  the  Lord.  The  Sunday  school 
was  in  another  building  at  1 :30  p.  m.  We  ate 
a  few  bites  and  rushed  over  there  for  a  ser- 
vice at  2 : 00  p.  m.  Here  we  saw  a  wonderful 
time;  forty  or  fifty  people  wept  and  prayed 
their  way  to  God.  We  never  saw  more 
shouting  and  general  rejoicing  than  at  this  I 
service.  Nearly  all  present  asked  the  privi- ' 
lege  of  making  public  confessions,  and  then 
we  never  saw  more  people  in  one  service  go 
to  each  other  to  confess  and  ask  forgive- 
ness. We  closed  this  service  at  5:30  and 
rushed  on  to  the  Girls'  College  where  we 
spoke  to  the  young  women  of  the  school  at 
6:00  p.  m.  Here  we  also  saw  a  goodly  num- 
ber seek  the  Lord.  We  lay  down  for  a  short 
rest  before  the  final  evening  service  at  8:00 
o'clock.  At  this  service  the  chapel  was  pack- 
ed. At  the  altar  call  we  saw  the  space 
around  the  altar  crowded  with  seekers,  who 
were  nearly  all  men  and  women.  Those  pres- 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         69 

ent  from  the  afternoon  service  were  still  re- 
joicing in  the  Lord. 

My  interpreter,  who  is  one  of  the  pastors, 
said,  "Oh,  this  is  just  what  we  need  all  over 
the  conference,  so  all  the  churches  will  get 
right  and  then  lead  people  to  God." 

Monday  morning  we  bade  a  hurried  good- 
bye and  took  an  early  train  back  to  Santiago. 
We  spent  fourteen  and  one-half  hours  on  this 
train,  the  journey  leading  close  to  the  foot 
of  snow-capped  mountains  all  the  way.  We 
are  not  able  to  state  how  many  towns  and 
cities  we  passed  with  a  population  of  from 
5,000  to  30,000  people,  with  no  missionary 
work  being  carried  on  in  them. 

We  often  wonder  whether  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest  is  pleased  with  the  way  we  have  our 
gifts  and  efforts  divided  up.  Here  are  thous- 
ands of  people  who  can  be  easily  reached, 
and  led  to  a  decision  for  Christ  if  the  effort 
is  put  forth.  In  fact  there  were  many  places 
we  did  not  dare  go  for  services,  because  the 
people  would  have  stepped  out  for  God,  and 
there  was  no  one  to  leave  in  charge  as  pastor. 
Those  who  have  had  experience  on  the  field, 
know  that  it  is  better  not  to  lead  them  to  a 
decision  for  Christ  until  they  can  be  cared 
for,  as  the  Roman  priest  is  certain  to  get  af- 
ter them.  Very  few  can  read  the  Bible  for 
themselves,  so  that  if  they  stand  for  God, 


70        TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

they  must  have  pastoral  care.  Their  cry  is: 
"I  looked  on  my  right  hand,  and  beheld,  but 
there  was  no  man  that  would  know  me ;  ref- 
uge failed  me;  no  man  cared  for  my  soul." 
(Psa.  142.  4.) 

The  Best  Schools. 

I  have  rarely  ever  been  accused  of  copying 
after  other  people,  because  I  am  not  as  a  rule 
sufficiently  "up-to-date"  to  fall  in  line  with 
others.  I  judge  my  opinion  about  the  school 
work  needed  in  South  America  is  also  of  this 
character.  I  will,  however,  ask  the  readers' 
patience  while  I  give  my  ideas  and  reasons. 
Their  colleges  are  good,  and  can  be  made  a 
wonderful  blessing  to  the  country,  but  in  my 
opinion  the  great  need  of  these  countries  is 
small  schools  taught  by  Christian  teachers, 
where  the~poor"and  common  drildrencan 
gathered  in  and  taught  to  read  and  write. 

They  are  willing  to  pay  a  small  amount  to 
attend  such  schools,  which  in  many  cases, 
makes  them  like  the  colleges,  self-supporting. 
But  the  schools  we  have  found  of  this  char- 
acter do  not,  as  a  rule,  teach  salvation  to  any 
marked  degree.  Should  they  do  so  many  of 
the  children  would  be  frightened,  or  taken 
away  by  their  parents.  We  have  felt  that 
a  large  number  of  such  schools  could  be  run 
with  thousands  of  children,  by  making  the 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         71 

tuition  free,  but  with  the  strict  understand- 
ing that  all  the  children  attend  Sunday 
school  in  the  same  building  each  Sunday. 
Then  let  the  schools  be  opened  by  reading 
the  Bible  and  prayer  each  day,  and  have  in 
addition  to  a  regular  lesson  in  the  Bible,  a 
certain  hour  when  each  school  is  visited  by  a 
regular  visiting  missionary  to  labor  definitely 
for  the  salvation  of  the  children. 

We  are  acquainted  with  one  city  where 
schools  are  being  conducted  in  this  way,  mi- 
nus the  opening  prayer,  the  definite  salva- 
tion work,  and  the  compulsory  Sunday  school 
for  the  children.  The  main  trouble  with  the 
Protestant  schools  has  too  often  been  the 
fact  that  they  have  not  had  financial  help 
from  home  and  have  therefore  been  compelled 
to  make  their  own  way. 

Here  is  a  wonderful  opening  for  both  men 
and  women  who  can  teach,  and  want  to  do 
missionary  work.  Here  is  also  a  wonderful 
opening  for  some  of  God's  saints  to  invest 
His  money  in  the  support  of  such  teachers. 
The  fruit  of  this  work  in  a  few  years  would 
no  doubt  be  sixty  or  a  hundred  fold. 

One  of  the  greatest  openings  we  know  of 
for  workers  is  that  of  Christian  teachers  in 
these  countries.  We  know  of  one  school 
where  they  have  so  many  scholars  they  are 
compelled  to  employ  fifteen  Roman  Catholic 


72         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

teachers,  although  the  school  is  a  Christian 
school  and  laboring  for  the  salvation  of  the 
student  body.  The  salary  for  teachers  is  no 
question  at  all,  for  the  school  is  entirely  self- 
supporting.  They  are  begging  for  teachers 
but  cannot  find  any  who  will  go. 

Los  Andes. 

The  first  word  in  the  above  subject  is  the 
plural  for  the  article  "the".  It  really  means 
"The  Andes",  and  is  the  name  given  to  a  city 
just  at  the  foot  of  the  Andes  on  the  Chilean 
side.  It  is  from  this  small  Chilean  city  of 
10,000  inhabitants  that  the  famous  "Trans- 
Andean"  railroad  starts  across  the  moun- 
tains. 

Los  Andes  is  more  than  one  hundred  miles 
from  the  Pacific  coast  at  Valparaiso,  and 
about  the  same  mileage  from  the  capital  city 
of  Santiago.  This  distance  is  covered  by  a 
broad,  or  standard  gauge  road,  and  the  nar- 
row gauge  road  of  the  Trans-Andean  Com- 
pany begins  at  this  point.  The  trains  leave 
Los  Andes  at  7:30  a.  m. 

In  the  summer,  which  is  the  winter  months 
in  North  America,  they  run  three  trains  each 
week,  but  in  the  winter  months  of  May, 
June,  July  and  August,  they  only  run  trains 
two  times  a  week,  and  these  are  frequently 
snow  bound  until  traffic  is  cut  out  for  even 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         73 

two  months.  In  fact,  the  writer  crossed  over 
the  last  of  May  and  by  the  first  of  June  they 
had  two  trains  tied  up  by  the  snow,  and  traf- 
fic was  suspended  indefinitely. 

The  traveler  who  crosses  during  the 
months  mentioned  must  carry  along  food  for 
such  an  emergency.  We  were  warned  by 
friends  to  this  effect  and  through  their  kind- 
ness were  supplied  with  food  for  the  jour- 
ney. 

Finding  we  must  leave  Santiago  on  Tues- 
day and  spend  the  night  in  Los  Andes,  we 
made  arrangements  to  preach  in  the  city 
Tuesday  night.  We  took  an  interpreter  with 
us  from  Valparaiso,  and  were  accompanied 
by  the  superintendent  of  the  Methodist  mis- 
sions, who  went  that  far  to  be  in  the  service 
and  give  us  a  final  farewell  from  the  Pacific 
coast. 

The  hall  was  not  a  large  one,  and  as  the 
purpose  of  the  service  was  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel the  opera  house  could  not  be  secured  by 
the  native  worker  from  a  near-by  city,  who 
had  made  the  arrangements.  Such  refusals 
are  never  known  near  the  coast,  but  the  far- 
ther back  into  the  interior  the  greater  the 
Roman  superstition. 

When  we  reached  the  little  hall  we  found  it 
packed  like  sardines  in  a  box.  The  attention 
could  not  have  been  better.  The  singing  was 


74         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

beautiful.  The  congregation  was  made  up 
for  the  most  part  of  poor  people.  The  writer 
had  real  pleasure  in  preaching  the  Word  of 
God  to  them,  and  when  the  altar  was  pre- 
sented we  saw  it  filled  with  men  and  women 
seeking  God. 

As  we  strolled  back  to  our  hotel,  the  Dis- 
trict Superintendent  said,  "Brother  Taylor, 
if  you  could  remain  here  for  ten  days  and 
had  a  large  tent  where  the  people  could  be 
accommodated,  we  could  see  at  least  one 
thousand  people  converted  to  God."  We  felt 
after  the  experience  we  have  had  in  these/ 
parts  of  the  world  that  his  words  were  sane 
and  very  reasonable. 

He  then  said,  "But  what  would  we  do  with 
the  one  thousand  converts;  we  haven't  any 
one  to  take  care  of  them ;  our  workers  are  so 
few?"  We  knew  he  was  again  speaking  the 
truth;  and  our  mind  went  to  the  various 
towns  in  the  States  less  than  one-half  the 
size  of  this  place,  and  not  half  that  number 
of  professing  Christians  in  the  place,  but 
eight  or  ten,  yes  even  more  than  that  num- 
ber of  pastors  in  addition  to  local  workers. 

Truly  these  fields  are  white  unto  the  har- 
vest, but  who  will  go?  Who  will  send? 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         75 

CHAPTER  SEVEN 
Argentine. 

The  Argentine  Republic  is  larger  than  all 
of  the  United  States  lying  east  of  the  Miss- 
issippi river.  In  other  words  it  is  more  than 
one-third  the  size  of  the  United  States,  and 
has  a  population  a  little  larger  than  that  of 
the  state  of  Illinois.  It  extends  over  2,500 
miles  south  from  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn, 
running  almost  to  the  Antarctic  Circle.  The 
population  of  Argentine  is  rapidly  increasing. 
In  fact,  according  to  statistics,  the  immi- 
grants from  other  countries  total  nearly  sev^ 
en  hundred  per  day  for  the  entire  year.  S 

This  republic  has  much  of  the  finest  farm- 
ing land  on  earth,  and  is  already  one  of  the 
great  wheat  growing  and  cattle  raising  sec- 
tions of  the  world.  These  South  American 
countries,  however,  are  very  unlike  the 
United  States.  The  population  is  nearly  all  in 
a  few  large  cities  and  towns. 

The  capital,  Buenos  Aires,   is  the  largest, 
city  on  earth  south  of  the  Equator,  and  is/ 
one  of  the  great  cities  of  the  world,  having  a 
population  of  nearly  1,500,000  and  growing  at 
a  tremendous  rate.  One-fifth  of  the  people  in 
the  entire  republic  are  in  the  capital.    It  is 


76         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

said  to  be  growing  faster  than  any  large  city 
in  the  United  States,  except  New  York  and 
Chicago. 

In  Buenos  Aires  they  have  one  of  the  most 
complete  newspaper  plants  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere.  The  great  avenues,  parks  and 
public  buildings,  miles  of  docks,  etc.,  will 
compare  favorably  with  any  city  in  the 
world.  It  is  larger  than  Boston,  Baltimore 
and  Denver  combined,  and  yet  this  mass  of 
humanity  only  has  ten  Protestant  churches 
where  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is  preach- 
ed. Mr.  Speer  says :  "In  this  city  the  size  of 
Philadelphia,  there  are  only  forty  Roman 
Catholic  churches,  and  ten  Protestant  church- 
es for  both  Spanish  and  English  services.  In 
Philadelphia  I  believe  there  are  ninety  Ro- 
man Catholic  churches  and  690  Protestant 
^churches." 

The  people  in  Argentine  are  not  "hard  to 
reach."  They  want  God.  They  are  hungry 
for  salvation.  At  the  close  of  a  simple  ser- 
mon on  freedom  from  sin  we  have  given  an 
invitation  and  without  urging,  we  have  seen 
from  fifty  to  seventy-five  people  come  at 
once  to  the  altar  expressing  a  desire  to  sur- 
render to  God  and  be  saved.  We  have  preach- 
ed in  other  cities  in  Argentine  where  they 
have  a  population  from  one  to  two  hundred 
thousand.  And  there  are  still  others  with  a 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         77 

population  of  twenty-five  to  seventy-five 
thousand  without  any  religious  work  being 
done.  Such  cities  are  to  be  found  on  rail- 
roads and  many  are  railroad  centers,  for  this 
republic  has  over  18,000  miles  of  railroads. 

We  held  meetings  in  two  Spanish  church- 
es where  they  are  not  only  self-supporting, 
but  giving  largely  for  missionary  purposes. 
A  great  work  in  Argentine  is  possible  if  only 
men  and  money  can  be  found  to  start  it. 

Buenos  Aires. 

This  Spanish  name  of  the  capital  of  the 
Republic  of  Argentine  means  "Good  Air."  It 
ranks  in  beauty  among  the  first  of  the  world. 
Buenos  Aires,  with  its  population  of  nearly 
one  and  one-half  million,  is  the  largest  city 
in  South  America,    and   one  of  the  largest 
south  of  the  Equator.     It  has  all  the  rush\ 
and  dash  of  Chicago  and  New  York.    We  are  I 
told  they  have  more  automobiles  there  than  I 
in  New  York  City. 

Many  of  the  principal  streets  and  avenues 
are  narrow,  which  impedes  the  progress  of 
traffic,  so  that  we  have  seen  street  cars  and  \ 
autos  backed  up  for  a  whole  square  waiting  j 
to  cross  another  street  that  was  congested. 
They  are  now  at  work  widening  the  streets, 
which  will  of  necessity  be  a  long  drawn  out 
process   and  cost  many   millions  of  dollars. 


78         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

They  have  passed  a  law  that  all  new  build- 
ings erected  on  a  designated  side  of  the 
street  must  be  set  back  a  prescribed  dis- 
tance, which  is,  as  a  rule,  twenty  to  forty 
feet.  The  city  pays  the  owner  for  the  space 
thus  lost,  and  in  this  way  the  streets  are 
beginning  to  widen  out. 

The  wickedness  of  this  great  Southern  Me- 
tropolis is  the  most  flagrant  we  have  ever 
seen.    It  is  indeed  a  city  without  God,  burn- 
ing in  lust,  and  drowned  in  liquor.    Christian 
women  coming  here  should  appreciate,     as 
never  before,    the    blessings     Christianity 
brought  to  womanhood,  for  here  woman   is 
at  a  great  disadvantage.     The  manifest  lack 
of  respect  for  her  is  seen  on  every  side.  On 
the  street  it  is  the  rarest  thing  for  a  woman  \ 
to  pass  without  the  majority  of  the  men  look- 
ing right  in  her  face,  perhaps  say  some  im-   / 
pudent  thing ;  notice  her  form,  make  remarks  / 
about  it  to  each  other,  and  that  without  any  ' 
effort  to  keep  her  from  hearing. 

In  all  our  travels  we  have  never  seen  any 
place  that  furnished  the  lustful,  licentious 
art  we  found  in  this  city.  At  the  door  of  the 
post  card  stores  and  in  the  show  window  of 
the  art  stores,  the  most  conspicuous  thing  is 
the  hundreds  of  pictures  of  nude  women  of 
the  vilest  character  the  reader  can  imagine. 
The  statuary  is  of  the  same  kind.  Theaters 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         79 

are  everywhere,  and  judging  by  the  pictures 
about  the  doors  of  these  institutions  of  the 
devil,  they  are  also  among  the  greatest  agen- 
cies  of  lust  and   uncleanness.  The  theaters 
run  until  midnight.    It  seems  there  are  morev 
people  on  the  streets  at  ten  and  eleven  p.  m.  1 
than  any  hour  of  the  twenty-four. 

In  this  great,  wicked,  sinful  and  sinning 
city  we  are  told  there  are  twenty  churches 
trying  to  give  them  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.  We  have  passed  by  large  show  win- 
dows and  seen  them  filled  with  pictures  of 
nude  women  and  infidel  books.  The  enemy 
of  God  and  souls  seems  to  have  the  place, 
and  be  on  the  watch  to  see  that  nothing  is 
done  to  defeat  his  supreme  reign  in  the  fu- 
ture. 

Philadelphia,  with  six  hundred  churches, 
is  about  the  same  size  as  this  city,  which  has 
twenty  churches.  Surely  the  church  of  Jesus 
Christ  should  arise,  dare  and  do.  , 

One  easy  and  quite  possible  thing  for 
Buenos  Aires  would  be  to  give  out  250,000 
good  tracts  every  two  weeks.  The  mission- 
aries and  earnest  Christians  are  anxious  to 
do  it.  We  have  a  plan  for  this  which  makes 
it  possible  and  easy.  Some  of  our  readers 
have  seen  our  little  booklet,  entitled  "Pic- 
tures on  the  Wall",  showing  the  evils  of  nude 
pictures  and  nude  dress.  We  would  like 


80        TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

those  who  know  the  booklet  to  pray  with  us 
that  we  may  be  able  to  put  it  in  Spanish  and 
place  100,000  copies  in  Buenos  Aires.  . 

All  God  lacks  in  being  able  to  reach  this] 
city  is  some  consecrated  men  and  women/ 
whom  He  can  use  there  and  at  home.  ' 

Campaign  in  Buenos  Aires. 

Though  the  missionaries  in  Buenos  Aires 
were  expecting  us,  they  were  not  looking  for 
us  the  day  we  arrived.  The  country  through 
Argentine  from  the  mountains  down  to  the 
coast  was  flooded  by  heavy  rains.  We  reach- 
ed Buenos  Aires  by  going  over  the  Andean 
Railroad,  which  crosses  the  continent  from 
the  Pacific  at  Valparaiso  to  the  Atlantic  at 
Buenos  Aires;  or,  to  be  exact,  Buenos  Aires 
is  on  the  River  Plata,  which  empties  into  the 
Atlantic. 

This  famous  railroad  runs  over  the  Andes, 
climbing  nearly  to  the  top  and  then  is  tun- 
neled to  the  other  side.  The  route  carried  us 
the  second  day  through  the  flooded  district. 
At  times  we  pulled  right  through  the  water 
which  was  over  the  roadbed.  Much  time 
was  lost  and  we  arrived  three  hours  late, 
which  put  us  into  Buenos  Aires  late  at  night, 
and  no  one  to  meet  us. 

It  was  soon  noised  about  the  next  morning 
that  we  were  in  the  city,  and  Bishop  Stuntz, 


A   South    American    Indian   Without    the  Gospel. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         81 

two  District  Superintendents,  a  pastor  and 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Secretary  called  to  bid  us 
welcome  and  make  plans  for  the  campaign  in 
the  city.  It  has  been  a  real  delight  to  meet 
these  men  of  God  and  labor  with  them.  We 
found  them  all  to  be  humble  servants  of  Je- 
sus Christ  and  in  every  respect  real  brethren 
in  the  gospel.  Instead  of  finding  Bishop  Ho- 
rner  C.  Stuntz  sitting  up  on  a  pedestal,  as  we 
perhaps  too  often  expect,  we  found  him  a 
real  missionary,  working  at  his  job.  He 
preaches  nearly  every  night,  visiting  the  lit- 
tle missions  conducted  in  small  rented  halls. 
We  also  found  his  wife  to  be  a  very  godly  ana 
-most  superior  woman. 

Plans  were  finally  made,  and  it  was  decided 
that  we  should  begin  the  work  in  the  Second 
Methodist  church,  which  is  the  first  church 
so  far  as  the  Spanish  work  is  concerned,  the 
First  church  being  for  English  speaking  peo- 
ple. We  preached  in  the  latter  at  5:30  p.  m. 
in  English,  then  each  night  in  the  other 
church  we  spoke  to  the  Spanish  congregation. 

The  victories  on  the  Pacific  coast  had  been 
blessed.  We  had  just  closed  out  in  Chile, 
where  hundreds  of  people  sought  God,  and 
we  were  praying  with  all  our  hearts  that  the 
tide  might  not  fall,  but  that  we  might  see  the 
same  victories  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 


82         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Our  first  service  was  on  Sunday  morning. 
The  pastor  thought  we  would  do  well  if  we 
had  seventy-five  people  present  at  that  first 
service,  which  had  not  been  well  announced; 
but  instead  at  its  close,  we  saw  nearly  that 
number  in  the  altar  seeking  God.  The  inter- 
est increased  from  that  first  service,  and 
while  of  course  many  came  back  to  the  altar 
more  than  once  and  perhaps  some  did  not  get 
right  with  God  at  all,  yet  we  saw  more  than 
350  come  to  the  altar  as  definite  seekers  dur- 
ing the  four  days  we  were  in  the  church. 

The  District  Superintendent,  Rev.  Schill- 
ing, was  our  interpreter.  This  brother  will 
weigh  about  240  pounds,  and  is  every  ounce  a 
missionary.  He  wept  and  praised  God  as  the 
people  flocked  to  the  altar,  and  as  his  church 
came  to  receive  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  last  night  will  not  be  forgotten;  it 
seemed  like  we  were  just  ready  to  begin  the 
meeting  when  it  was  necessary  to  close.  The 
last  of  our  services  was  in  the  First  church 
where  we  preached  in  English  at  5:30  p.  m. 
We  spoke  from  Acts  1:8,  and  He  of  whom 
we  spoke  was  manifestly  present.  At  the 
close  of  the  service  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Stuntz 
invited  us  to  go  with  them  to  a  Dairy 
Lunch  room  for  supper  together  before  he 
went  out  to  a  little  mission  for  service. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         83 

Our     group     consisted    of     Bishop     an 
Mrs.  Stuntz,    the    dean  of    the  Theologica 
School,  one  District  Superintendent,  Brothe 
Reid  and  the  writer.    After  a  nice  plain  lunc 
of  bread,  butter  and  eggs,  the  Bishop  said, 
"Now,  we  will  soon  be  separating,  and  we 
are  all  here  together  in  one  side  of  the  room, 
let's  have  a  season  of  prayer."  He  then  led 
in  an  earnest  prayer,  and  we  all  felt  the  pres- 
ence  of  the  Spirit.     We  felt  we   had  been 
alone  with  Jesus,  even  if  there  were  many 
other  people  in  the  room  serving  and  being 
served  while  we  prayed. 

PRAYING  TO  THE  SAINTS  AND  IMAGES. 

An  Experience  Related  by  a  South  American 
Missionary. 

"In  the  year  1897  it  was  my  privilege  to 
visit,  on  his  deathbed,  a  man  named  Jose  Pit- 
taluga,  who  was  suffering  from  dropsy  and 
nearing  his  end  very  speedily.  I  had  visited 
him  on  several  occasions,  reading  God's 
Word  to  him  and  praying  for  his  consolation. 

"On  this  particular  day  I  had  almost  finish- 
ed my  visit  when  his  daughter,  Cecilia,  came 
in.  Entering  into  conversation  with  her  by 
her  father's  bedside,  I  found  that  she  had 
just  returned  from  one  of  very  many  visits 


84         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

made  to  the  shrine  of  'Virgin  of  Lujan.'  As 
we  talked  I  listened  to  the  account  of  her 
many  sufferings  and  her  struggle  for  relief 
through  the  means  of  these  pilgrimages.  I 
then  asked  her :  'Will  you  tell  me  please,  after 
your  lengthy  walk  to  the  shrine  at  Lujan  in 
all  sorts  of  weather,  have  you  ever  left  it 
with  a  feeling  of  ease  and  consolation  ?'  She 
replied,  'No  sir,  but  I  have  been  taught  by 
the  priests  both  here  and  in  Lujan,  that  there 
is  great  virtue  in  that  shrine  and  in  that  Vir- 
gin. So  with  continued  energy  I  have  kept 
on  taking  this  long  walk  by  the  side  of  the 
railroad  track,  league  after  league,  seeking 
relief  from  my  mental  sufferings,  and  for 
healing  for  my  sick  father.' 
/  "In  making  this  trip  she  had  in  a  period 
/  of  four  years,  tramped  near  six  thousand 
V.  miles,  over  very  bad  roads.  She  recognized 
the  fact  that  never  during  that  lapse  of 
time  had  she  experienced  that  deep  feeling 
of  ease  and  satisfaction  her  heart  longed  for. 
Our  conversation  immediately  turned  to  that 
great  source  from  which  every  man  and 
woman  may  find  comfort  and  salvation.  Af- 
ter frequent  visitations,  with  prayer  and 
counsel,  both  she  and  her  afflicted  father 
were  led  to  the  Savior's  feet  and  rejoiced  in 
Him  as  their  personal  Savior." 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         85 

Modes  of  Opposition. 

Many  are  the  arts  employed  by  the  so- 
called  faithful  of  the  Roman  church  by  means 
of  which  they  strive  to  place  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  Protestant  evangelical  propaganda. 
For  instance,  it  is  not  at  all  uncommon  in  the 
Latin  Republics  of  South  America  for  ene- 
mies of  the  Protestant  faith,  and  frequently 
spies  employed  by  the  Roman  Catholic  cler- 
gy, to  place  themselves  in  the  vicinity  oA 
Protestant  places  of  worship  for  the  purpose ) 
of  preventing,  as  far  as  possible,  passersby 
from  going  inside. 

A  person  is  often  just  about  to  enter  one 
of  these  halls  when  he  is  accosted 
by  one  of  these  spies  with  the  following  coun- 
sel: "My  friend,  allow  me  to  tell  you  some- 
thing about  the  place  you  desire  to  enter.  I 
would  have  you  understand  that  this  building 
is  used  by  the  heretical  sect  called  Protest- 
ants. It  will  be  dangerous  to  the  immortal 
interest  of  your  soul  if  you  enter  this  hall. 
Inside  here  they  spit  upon  the  virgin,  insult 
the  saints  and  commit  all  sorts  of  devilish  im- 
proprieties. I  pray  you  not  to  cross  the 
threshold.  For  as  I  have  informed  you,  your 
eternal  interests  will  greatly  suffer." 

Frequently  in  the  cities  of  San  Juan  and 
Mendoza,  as  also  in  Rosario  and  Cordoba, 


86         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Argentine,  this  has  taken  place.  Such  an  at- 
ti'.ude  assumed  by  these  enemies  of  the  Pro- 
testant faith  only  goes  to  show  the  base 
methods  adopted  to  retard  the  progress  of 
the  gospel  in  the  needy  countries  of  South 
America. 

Cradle  of  Romanism. 

Cordoba,  one  of  the  large  cities  of  the  Ar- 
gentine Republic,  is  called  "The  Cradle  of 
Romanism."  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  cities  of 
the  Republic,  being  founded  immediately  af- 
ter the  settlement  of  Mendoza,  which  was  the 
first  in  Argentine.  Including  the  suburbs, 
Cordoba  is  a  city  of  130,000  inhabitants. 
While  a  liberal  government  has  power  in 
this  Republic,  this  city  and  province  has  re- 
mained a  very  stronghold  of  Romanism. 

The  Jesuits  have  been  strong  there 
for  three  centuries.  The  oldest  Jesuit  church 
and  no  doubt  the  oldest  Roman  church  in 
the  Republic,  is  only  sixteen  or  eighteen 
miles  from  the  city.  From  this  old  church, 
the  headquarters  of  Jesuitism,  into  the  city 
of  Cordoba  there  was  at  an  earlier  period  an 
underground  passage,  such  as  is  found  in  all 
South  American  cities. 

Many  orders  of  Romanism  are  represented 
in  this  place.  We  received  much  information 
concerning  the  Roman  church  in  Cordoba 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         87 

from  Father  Louis  Alvarez,  Dean  of  the  Cor- 
doba Cathedral.  He  told  us  that  the  follow- 
ing orders  were  represented  with  one  or 
more  churches  in  the  city:  The  Dominicans^ 
Franciscans,  Carmelites,  Lazarites,  Capuch-* 
ins,  Mercedaries  and  Jesuits.  Perhaps  the 
reader  is  not  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  church,  with  all  of  her  boasted 
oneness  and  criticisms  about  Protestantism 
being  divided  into  so  many  sects,  is  herself 
one  of  the  most  divided  organizations  on  the 
earth. 

All  these  orders  of  priests,  which  we  have 
just  mentioned,  with  others,  are  different 
sects  or  organizations  within  the  one  great 
Roman  organization.  They  differ  in  various^ 
beliefs  far  more  than  the  Presbyterians,  Bap- 
tists, Methodists  and  others.  Some  of  them 
believe  in  the  Immaculate  Conception ;  others 
do  not.  Some  of  them  teach  their  adherents 
to  pray  to  Mary,  and  we  might  mention  many 
other  things  including  cardinal  doctrines  of 
the  scriptures  on  which  they  are  very  much 
divided.  One  thing,  however,  they  all  believe 
in,  and  that  is  the  Pope  of  Rome.  The  writer 
takes  pleasure  in  telling  them  that  we  Pro- 
testants are  one  ahead  of  them.  While  they 
all  become  one  in  the  Pope,  we  all  become 
one  in  Jesus  Christ. 


88         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

During  our  visit  to  Cordoba,  the  cathedral 
was  being  repaired.  It  was  built  in  1650V 
However,  it  is  a  very  fine  structure  already, 
but  they  are  covering  much  of  the  interior 
with  gold-leaf  decoration.  The  Dean  told  us 
it  was  to  cost  about  $200,000.  Of  this  amount 
the  government  is  paying  a  large  part.  The 
city  supports  thirty-five  Roman  churches,  the 
cathedral  being  one  of  this  number.  Father 
Alvarez  told  us  that  40,000  people  go  to  this 
cathedral  to  confess  and  recognize  it  as  their 
church  home. 

Of  course,  the  real  head  is  the  Bishop.  Un- 
der him  are  tMjelye  priests  who  devote  all  of 
their  time  to  the  work  of  the  cathedral,  ten 
being  employed  all  the  while  in  saying  and 
singing  prayers.  Tlgn  priests  from  the  out- 
side go  regularly  to  hear  confessions,  making 
twenty-two  priests  and  the  Bishop  spending 
their  time  in  connection  with  this  one  build- 
ing. 

We  asked  the  dean  about  the  nuns.  He  told 
us  there  were  more  than  twenty  convents 
in  Cordoba,  and  that  they  represented  the 
work  of  fifteen  orders  or  organizations  of 
nuns,  and  that  each  organization  had  more 
than  two  hundred  nuns  in  it,  making  over 
three  ^thousand  nuns  in  the  city.  He 
also  informed  us  that  they  had  between 
three  and  four  thousand  priests  in 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA        89 

the  city,  making  an  army  of  between  six  and  ] 
seven  thousand  priests  and  nuns  devoting  all  ] 
their  time  to  the  work  of  the  Roman  church/ 
in  this  one  place. 

Looking  over   the  vital  statistics  of  Cor- 
doba we  found  more  than  fifty 


children  being  born  each  month.  The  stand- 
ard of  illiteracy  and  impurity  is  alarming, 
although  these  six  or  seven  thousand  men 
and  women  are  supposed  to  devote  all  their 
time  to  the  work  of  the  so-called  "only  true 
representative  of  Jesus  Christ  on  earth." 

In  the  midst  of  this  great  army,  represent- 
ing the  organization  that  has  done  more  to 
encourage  illiteracy  and  to  produce  illegitima- 
cy than  all  other  things  combined,  we  found 
ane_humble  preacher  of  the  gospel,  repre- 
senting the  Protestant  forces  of  the  world, 
preaching  salvation  through  faith  in  Christ. 
With  him  we  found  a  small  company  of  hum- 
ble men  and  women  struggling  on,  worship- 
ping in  a  little  rented  hall,  and  much  in  need 
of  a  church  building. 


90         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

CHAPTER  EIGHT 
Paraguay. 

Paraguay  is  in  the  southern  interior  of 
South  America.  It  is  perhaps  one  of  the\ 
most  backward,  undeveloped,  unevangelized ) 
republics  of  the  continent.  From  what  we 
have  been  able  to  learn  of  the  various  coun- 
tries of  South  America  by  going  through 
them,  and  inquiring  particularly  of  those  who 
have  traveled  more  extensively,  it  is  our  judg- 
ment that  Paraguay  and  Ecuador  are  very 
much  alike  regarding  their  neglected  state, 
as  touching  evangelical  work.  There  is  prac- 
tically nothing  being  done  in  either  of  these 
republics  for  the  evangelization  of  the  people. 

The  capital  of  Paraguay  is  Asuncion,  a  city 
of  52,000  people.  This  small  interior  republic 
has  only  a  little  more  than  150  miles  of  rail- 
road in  operation,  yet  it  is  easy  to  reach  the 
capital  and  much  of  the  entire  republic  on 
steamers  plying  up  the  great  Parana  and 
Paraguay  rivers. 

It  might  be  well  to  say  that  these  two  riv- 
ers are  all  one.  It  is  called  the  Parana  from 
the  place  where  it  leaves  the  La  Plata,  about 
Buenos  Aires,  on  up  to  Paraguay  Republic; 
where  it  runs  through  Paraguay  it  is  called 
the  Paraguay  river. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         91 

The  Republic  covers  an  area  of  196,- 
000  square  miles,  in  which  could  be  placed 
both  California  and  Maine,  but  its  popula- 
tion is  715,000.  This,  of  course,  does  not 
include  the  Indians.  Statistics  regarding  the 
numbers  of  Indians,  tribes  and  languages, 
are  very  difficult  to  obtain.  A  gentleman,  who 
has  a  branch  place  of  business  in  Paraguay 
and  has  traveled  extensively  through  the 
country,  told  the  writer  he  was  confident 
there  were  at  least  two  hundred  languages 
and  dialects  among  theTndians  of  that  little 
republic  alone.  He  also  informed  us,  as  have 
others,  that  they  are  nearly  all  the  same  sav- 
age of  centuries  ago. 

This  is  one  of  the  oldest  Republics  in 
South  America.  The  population,  like  its  evan- 
gelization, is  very  slow.  "In  1796  when  the 
first  census  was  taken  it  gave  a  population 
of  97,480.  In  1857  the  official  census  gave 
a  population  of  1,337,439.  Further  progress 
was  stopped  by  the  wars  of  1865-70  when 
Paraguay  was  nearly  annihilated  in  her' 
struggles  under  the  infamous  JjOjjfiz,  who 
fought  for  five  years  against  the  combined 
forces  of  Brazil,  Argentine  and  Uruguay." 
When  these  noted  and  notorious  wars  ceased 
the  inhabitants  were  given  as  231,079.  Of 
these  only  28,746  were  men.  In  fact,  it  was 
not  uncommon  for  women,  and  even  girls  to 


92         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

take  up  guns,  clubs  and  large  knives  and 
march  into  battle  during  the  struggles  car- 
ried on  by  this  infamous  general. 

With  such  a  large  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion women,  they  were,  of  course,  forced  to 
become  the  bread-winners  of  the  country. 
Polygamy  was  the  rule  and  not  the  exception. 
During  these  days  it  was  declared  that  98^ 
per  cent  of  the  children  were  illegitimate. 

A  railroad  has  been  recently  completed  be- 
tween Buenos  Aires  and  Asuncion,  while  an- 
other is  being  built  from  Asuncion  into  the 
interior  of  Brazil.  It  is  our  judgment  that 
this  little  interior,  unknown,  backward,  half- 
civilized  republic  holds  a  hand  of  opportunity 
to  some  organization  with  a  sane,  godly  man 
to  go  in  and  carry  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
to  the  needly  people. 

Incident  From  Paraguay. 

The  following  was  related  by  Rev.  C.  J. 
Turner,  District  Superintendent  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  church,  in  Argentine: 

During  several  years  work  in  the  Repub- 
lic of  Paraguay,  it  was  a  blessed  experience  to 
travel  in  the  interior  from  time  to  time  in 
the  company  of  a  local  preacher,  Rev.  Charles 
J.  Bogado,  a  native  of  Paraguay.  He  was  at 
one  time  a  captain  in  the  Paraguayan  army 
and  passed  through  many  very  terrible  expe- 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         93 

riences  during  the  five  years  of  war,  when 
the  little  Republic  of  Paraguay  was  standing 
up  against  Argentine,  Chile  and  Brazil. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  Mr.  Bogado  was 
presented  by  the  authorities  with  a  small 
piece  of  land  so  that  he  might  provide  for  the 
necessities  of  his  family,  and  he  settled  down 
for  a  quiet  life. 

One  day  while  walking  down  the  main 
street  of  the  town  of  Ita  he  saw,  lying  on 
the  side  of  the  street,  a  piece  of  paper  and 
stooped  to  pick  it  up.  As  he  read  the  page 
he  was  struck  with  the  beauty  of  what  he 
read,  and  said  to  himself,  "Such  words  as 
these  can  only  come  from  some  good  book.  I 
must  go  and  see  the  priest  and  get  informa- 
tion regarding  it." 

He  went  to  the  parish  priest  and  showed 
him  the  paper.  The  priest  flew  angry  and 
said,  "Capt.  Bogado,  do  you  know  from  what 
this  piece  of  paper  has  been  taken?"  "No, 
Father,  I  do  not  know,"  he  replied.  The  priest 
raged,  "This  is  a  page  out  of  the  Bible,  a  book 
absolutely  prohibited  in  the  Paraguayan  Re- 
public," and  tore  the  paper  into  little  pieces, 
throwing  it  on  the  floor. 

Mr.  Bogado  in  his  turn,  became  angry  and 
reproached  the  priest  for  having  destroyed 
that  which  was  not  his;  and  gathering  to- 
gether all  the  pieces  of  the  paper  from  the 


94        TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

floor,  he  resolved  to  search  until  he  might 
procure  a  copy  of  the  book  containing  simi- 
lar words. 

After  something  like  three  months  he  ob- 
tained a  copy  of  the  New  Testament.  Care- 
fully scrutinizing  the  pages  he  came  to  cer- 
tain passages  of  St.  John's  gospel  and  read  in 
the  third  chapter  the  memorable  words  which 
he  had  read  on  the  dirty  piece  of  paper  found 
on  the  street  of  Ita — "For  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son 
that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  In  the  si-^ 
lence  of  that  night  hour  Bogado  gave  himself  1 
to  God  and  believed  the  truth  of  those  pre^ 
cious  words. 

Since  that  time  he  has  traveled  up  and 
down  the  Paraguayan  Republic  carrying  the 
Word  of  Life  and  preaching  the  same  simple 
message  to  the  down-trodden  people  of  that 
country. 

This  is  a  striking  illustration  of  what  can 
be  accomplished  by  giving  the  gospel  to  these 
needy  people  on  the  printed  page.  We  could 
recount  more  than  one  incident  of  how  a 
mere  tract,  a  dirty  piece  of  paper,  one  of  the 
gospels  of  the  New  Testament  has  been  pick- 
ed up,  or  handed  to  some  hungry  soul  in 
Latin  America,  who  has  been  led  to  Christ 
in  this  way. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         95 

CHAPTER  NINE 
Uruguay. 

When  viewed  from  the  map  little  Uruguay 
looks  very  much  like  a  joke  in  the  way  of  an 
independent  nation,  a  republic  of  its  own. 
Uruguay  is  the  smallest  of  the  South  Ameri- 
can republics,  and  with  the  exception  of 
French  and  Dutch  Guianas,  it  is  the  smallest 
of  all  South  American  countries.  Yet  it  is 
seen  on  the  map  as  located  in  between  the 
Republic  of  Argentine  and  the  United  States 
of  Brazil,  the  two  largest  countries  in  South 
America.  Brazil  being  larger  than  the  Uni- 
ted States,  and  Argentine  larger  than  all  the 
territory  lying  east  of  the  Mississippi  river. 

But  when  the  traveler  steps  off  the  boat 
in  the  proud,  well-ordered  city  of  Montevideo, 
the  thought  of  Uruguay  being  a  joke  soon 
slips  from  the  mind,  and  the  magnificent  city, 
the  beautiful  parks,  streets  and  avenues,  with 
the  350,000  people,  loom  up  before  the  eye. 

Small  as  it  is,  Uruguay  has  a  population 
of  more  than  a  million  people.  Her  commerce 
with  the  outside  world  reaches  a  total  of 
nearly  a  hundred  million  dollars  per  year, 
and  this  is  the  only  republic  in  South  Ameri- 
ca where  their  currency  is  on  a 


One  dollar  of  Uruguay  money  is  worth  about 
$1.04  American  money. 


96         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

There  is  perhaps  no  other  country  in  the 
neglected  continent  where  Romanism  has  less 
influence  and  where  the  doors  are  more  wide- 
ly thrown  open  to  Protestant  missionaries. 
Yet  there  is  comparatively  little  being  done 
along  evangelistic  lines.  This  neglect  is  not 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  people  do  not  want 
the  gospel.  We  found  them  very  receptive. 
We  saw  large  crowds  in  the  altars,  and  they 
gave  every  evidence  of  a  real  change  of  heart. 
In  the  rapidly  growing  city  of  Montevideo, 
the  capital,  and  in  other  places  throughout 
the  Republic,  we  found  a  marvelous  field  for 
successful  missionary  work. 

Wearing  Images. 

The  deplorable  and  alarming  extent  to 
which  the  idolatrous  image  practice  is  carried 
in  Roman  Catholic  countries  can  scarcely  be 
described,  and  is  altogether  unbelievable 
where  Romanism  is  not  free  from  the  re- 
straints of  Protestantism. 

Those  who  are  acquainted  in  Roman  coun- 
tries know  that  they  have  hundreds  of  im- 
ages of  Mary  under  different  names.  One 
never  enters  a  church  but  that  there  are  va- 
rious images  of  the  Mother  of  Jesus  to  be 
seen,  and  also  the  "saints"  not  only  of  Bible 
times,  but  those  who  have  been  canonized 
in  later  years.  Perhaps  the  reader  is  not 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         97 

aware  of  the  fact  that  the  very  men  who 
were  leaders  in  the  inquisition,  even  the  man 
who  instituted  the  inquisition,  have  been 
"canonized"  and  their  images  are  now  wor- 
shipped everywhere.  The  "saints"  are  in- 
creasing every  year. 

We  have  visited  places  ourselves  where 
certain  devout  Romanists  in  by-gone  days, 
now  have  their  images  placed  in  churches 
where  their  grandchildren  go  to  pray  to 
them.  It  is  surprising  the  faith  the  poor, 
ignorant  people  have  in  these  images.  They 
are  not  only  found  in  the  churches,  but  just 
as  a  small  cross  is  worn  by  the  priest  and 
nun  in  the  United  States,  these  small  images 
in  the  shape  of  a  medal  are  worn  around  the 
necks  of  the  membership  at  large  through 
these  Spanish  countries.  They  are  especially 
anxious  to  secure  some  image  of  Mary  and 
also  certain  images  of  Jesus.  These,  how- 
ever, are  not  just  images  representing  Mary 
as  the  Mother  of  Jesus,  or  representing  Je- 
sus as  the  Son  of  God,  but  they  are  small 
images  in  the  form  of  a  medal  representing 
other  large  images  of  Mary  and  Jesus. 

For  instance,  the  most  noted  image  of  Je- 
sus in  all  Central  America  is  the  one  at  Es- 
quipulas  called  "The  Black  Christ",  or  the 
"Blessed  Lord  of  Esquipulas".  Of  this  large 
wooden  image  49  1-2  inches  high,  hundreds 


98         TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

of  thousands  of  small  images  on  medals  to 
be  worn  about  the  neck  are  made  in  Europe, 
shipped  to  Central  America,  sold  broadcast 
by  the  priests. 

The  writer  bought  a  gross  of  these  images 
and  was  assured  by  the  one  selling  them 
that  they  had  all  been  blessed  and  every  one 
had  great  miraculous  power. 

One  of  the  greatest  examples  of  this  fraud 
and  superstitious  practice  by  the  Roman 
priests  with  their  ignorant  members  as  a 
means  of  securing  money,  was  related  by 
Rev.  F.  G.  Penzotti,  who  for  thirty-six  years 
has  been  doing  missionary  and  Bible  work 
all  through  South  America.  Rev.  Penzotti 
was  present  in  a  Roman  Catholic  service  in 
Ecuador  where  the  priest  was  selling  small 
images  to  be  worn  about  the  necks  of  his 
members.  This  particular  one  was  an  image 
of  Mary.  In  his  public  address,  while  urging 
the  people  to  purchase  them,  he  told  them  it 
was  wonderful  the  power  the  images  had. 

"For  instance,"  he  said,  "a  man  was  work- 
ing on  a  very  high  building,  and  wore  one  of 
these  images  around  his  neck,  when  the  scaf- 
fold broke  and  he  started  to  fall ;  but  strange 
to  say,  as  he  fell  he  began  going  slower  and 
slower  until  when  he  reached  the  ground  he 
touched  it  very  lightly  and  walked  off  entire- 
ly unharmed  by  the  fall,  which  would  have 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA         99 

dashed  to  pieces  anyone  not  wearing  the  im- 
age." 

Proceeding  with  his  recommendation  he 
told  of  another  case  in  which  he  said :  "A  fire 
had  broken  out;  the  city  was  being  swept; 
the  firemen  were  doing  the  best  work  they 
possibly  could,  but  found  it  impossible  to 
check  the  fire.  The  water  seemed  not  to 
have  any  effect  on  it.  When,  lo  and  behold,  a 
man  rushed  down  the  street  carrying  in  his 
hands  one  of  these  images.  Rushing  up  to 
the  burning  buildings  he  held  aloft  this  im- 
age of  Mary,  and  waving  it  in  the  air,  he 
cried  'Stop!  stop!'  Strange  to  say  the  fire 
ceased,  and  this  image  had  accomplished 
what  the  firemen  could  not." 

The  "reverend  holy  father"  then  proceed- 
ed to  put  his  goods  on  the  market. 

Our  purpose  in  asking  for  missionaries  to 
go  and  others  to  give  while  all  should  pray, 
is  that  this  people  may  have  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  instead  of  such  superstitious 
teachings ;  that  they  may  have  Jesus  instead 
of  an  image;  that  they  may  have  salvation 
instead  of  this  superstition.  For  "Whosoever 
shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall 
be  saved ;  how  then  shall  they  call  on  Him  in 
whom  they  have  not  believed ;  and  how  shall 
they  believe  in  Him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard;  and  how  shall  they  hear  without  a 
preacher;  and  how  shall  they  preach  except 
they  be  sent?"  Who  will  send? 


100       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

CHAPTER  TEN 
Brazil. 

The  Republic  of  Brazil  represents  more 
than  one-half  of  all  South  America.  It  covers 
one-fifth  the  territory  of  both  North  and 
South  America.  It  is  the  fpjirjth  largest 
country  in  the  world.  It  has  42  seaports,  the 
greatest  river  system  in  the  world,  and  it  is 
judged  that  it  does  not  know  its  own  area  or 
condition;  and  less  is  known  of  the  interior 
of  Brazil  than  is  known  of  Africa. 

About  as  little  is  known  of  the  population 
of  Brazil  as  is  known  of  its  area.  From  most 
statistics  given  (which  are  simply  guesses 
of  various  men)  it  seems  to  have  a  popula- 
tion of  near  20  million,  which  is  from  one-  + 
third  to  one-half  the  entire  population  of  the 
continent  of  South  America. 

The  negro  was  brought  to  Brazil  as  a  slave 
about  the  same  time  he  was  brought  to  the 
United  States,  but  slavery  continued  in  Bra- 
zil twenty  years  longer  than  in  the  States. 
Unlike  the  other  South  and  Central  American 
Republics,  the  language  of  Brazil  is  Portu- 
guese. This,  of  course,  does  not  include  the 
Indians,  which  have  their  scores  and  per- 
haps a  few  hundred  languages  and  dialects. 

In  the  interior  there  are  hundreds  of  thous- 
ands of  square  miles  unexplored,  uncivilized, 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       101 

and  in  no  sense  evangelized.  The  wild  In- 
dian, savage  Indian,  even  the  Indian  cannibal, 
remain  in  these  forests  and  on  the  rivers  as 
they  did  centuries  ago. 

It  was  this  South  American  Republic  that 
brought  up  the  rear  guard  in  American  inde- 
pendence, being  the  last  one  to  declare  and 
gain  her  liberty  from  European  powers.  This 
took  place  in  1888,  and  the  constitution  was 
adopted  in ,1891.  This,  like  other  constitutions 
was  modeled  after  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

The  second  largest  city  in  South  America, 
and  one  of  the  largest  south  of  the  Equator, 
is  the  capital  of  Brazil,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  being 
translated  into  English  means  "River  of  Jan- 
uary". The  harbor  at  Rio  is  counted  the 
most  beautiful  one  on_earth  and  the  writer 
has  never  seen  what  impressed  him  as  a 
more  beautiful  sight.  Its  beautiful  harbor, 
splendid  boulevards  and  public  buildings, 
give  it  the  appearance  of  a  veritable  park  to 
the  visitor. 

Sao  Paulo,  the  seaport  for  which  is  Santos, 
is  the  great  commercial  metropolis  of  the 
country.  This  is  the  great  coffee  district.  Sao 
Paulo  is  a  city  of  more  than  300,000  popula- 
tion, and  although  it  is  within  fifty  miles  of 
the  coast  the  elevation  is  such  that  it  is  some- 
times called  the  "Denver  of  Brazil". 


102       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

The  Republic  of  Brazil  is   just  beginning 
to  awaken  on  the  question  of  railroad    con- 
struction, now  having  between  thirteen  and  /^ 
fourteen  thousand  miles  in  operation.     The 
Amazon  river  is  navigable  for  more  than  two) 
thousand   miles  for  great   ocean  liners.    Its^ 
tributaries  provide  over  20,000  miles  of  wa-  / 
terway  for  boats  drawing  nine  feet  of  waterX 

The  population  of  Brazil  is  very  much  mix- 
ed. They  have  more  negroes  than  any  other 
South  American  Republic.  One-third  are 
white;  one-fourth  negro;  one-half  mixed 
blood  of  Indian,  negro  and  white,  while  the 
remainder  are  Indians. 

So  far  as  Brazil's  laws  are  concerned  it  is 
the  |reest  from  the  power  of  Romanism  in 
South  America.  The  Roman  Catholic  church 
is  not  recognized  in  Brazil  as  the  state 
church.  This,  of  course,  is  more  law  than 
practice.  We  have  ridden  along  on  the  street^ 
cars  and  watched  the  men,  young  and  old,) 
reverently  lift  their  hats  every  time  the  car 
passed  a  Roman  Catholic  church.  But  like  the 
Spanish- American  countries,  the  more  intelli- 
gent men,  being  disgusted  with  Romanism, 
and  not  having  been  offered  anything  better, 
are  turning  from  religion  altogether,  taking 
up  various  forms  of  unbelief. 

"Behold,  now  is  the  accepted  time ;  behold, 
now  is  the  day  of  salvation"  for  Brazil. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA        103 

CHAPTER  ELEVEN 
The  Guianas. 

We  have  mentioned,  in  a  very  few  words, 
each  country  in  South  America,  except  Brit- 
ish, Dutch  and  French  Guianas.  We  have  not 
referred  to  these  on  account  of  the  fact  that 
we  were  dealing  particularly  with  "Latin 
America".  These  three  small  colonies  of 
Great  Britain,  Holland  and  France  lie  be- 
tween the  Equator  and  ten  degrees  latitude 
north.  All  three  have  a  coast  line  on  the  At- 
lantic ocean. 

British  Guiana  is  the  largest  and  most 
northern.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Ven- 
ezuela and  extends  to  Brazil  in  the  interior. 
Joining  it  immediately  on  the  south  is  Dutch 
Guiana,  which  also  borders  on  Brazil,  farther 
south  is  French  Guiana  bounded  by  Brazil 
and  Dutch  Guiana. 

The  three  represent  a  population  of  less 
than  a  half  million.  The  British  and  D.utch 
possessions  are  the  best  provided  for,  in  an 
evangelical  way,  of  any  South  American 
countries.  While  the  little  French  possession 
is,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  entirely  neglected. 

Nearly  200,000  East  Indians  have  been 
brought  to  these  European  colonies  and  they 
have  their  Hindu  and  Mohammedan  worship, 


env 

eyl 

in.* 


104       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

child  marriage  and  brutality  of  women,  just 
as  in  India.  For  these  East  Indians  very  lit- 
tle is  being  done,  or  even  attempted.  In  both 
of  the  larger  and  more  northern  possessions 
perfect  liberty  is  given  to  preaching  the  gos- 
pel, and  the  missionary  is  well  protected  by 
the  laws  of  the  colonies. 

It  has  been  our  privilege  in  both  of  these 
places  to  preach  and  see  many  souls  seek  His 
peace.  The  support  of  workers  here  is  less 
expensive  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  neg- 
lected continent.  Here  are  great  opportuni- 
ties for  Spirit-filled  men  and  women  who  do 
not  speak  any  other  than  the  English  lan- 
guage. 

Good  Liquor  in  the  Name  of  Religion. 

Those  who  only  know  Romanism  in  Pro- 
testant countries  where  the  Bible  and  Pro- 
testant ministers  compel  the  priests  to  be 
respectable,  have  little  or  no  conception  of 
how  they  live  and  what  they  preach  where 
they  are  not  thus  hindered.  The  following 
report  of  the  priest's  sermon  in  Callao,  Peru, 
which  appeared  in  the  daily  paper  of  the 
place,  El  Diario,  will  give  the  reader  some 
idea  of  what  is  given  in  the  name  of  religion 
in  these  countries.  This  man  who  claims  to 
be  the  true  representative  of  God  on  earth, 
said: 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       105 

"As  I  have  said  to  you,  beloved  hearers,  \ 
follow  the  good  way,  that  you  fail  not  to  ob- 
tain the  reward  of  your  virtues.  Yes,  yonder 
in  the  mansion  of  the  Almighty,  surrounded 
by  angels,  cherubim  and  seraphim,  archan- 
gels and  saints,  realizing  the  eternal  life  of 
that  blessedness  which  shall  never  end — for 
in  that  great  Hotel  where  everything  is  gra- 
tuitous, ye  shall  find  means  of  satisfying  your 
tastes  and  caprices  with  the  most  exquisite 
delights.  Ah,  Italians,  what  delicious  macar- 
onies, what  tallarinis,  with  excellent  Barbara 
wine,  and  foaming  Marsala  and  Moscato.  You 
Germans,  will  be  able  to  drink  and  bathe  in 
seas  of  beer.  You  Spaniards,  will  have  your 
rich  plates  of  rice  a  la  Valenciana,  savoury 
cod  fish,  a  la  Viscaina,  and  the  good  wine  of 
Carlon.  You  French,  after  all  the  plates  ye 
know  how  to  prepare,  you  shall  have  the  ne 
plus  ultra,  with  good  Bordeaux  and  other  de- 
licious wines,  and  champagne  to  cheer  the 
soul.  You,  children  of  South  America,  shall 
enjoy  the  savoury  'carne  con  cuero',  corn 
meal,  well  ground  and  cooked  with  milk,  not 
failing  the  fried  .cakes  and  the  choice  Para- 
guayan 'mate'  and  amidst  all  this  you  shall 
sing  together  eternal  praises  to  the  Celestial 
Father. 

"But,  you  unfortunates,  who  persist  in  sin, 
ah,  God  will  condemn  you  to  the  deep  abysses 


106       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

of  hell,  and  there,  amid  the  eternal  flames, 
you  shall  be  surrounded  by  fire,  fire  below, 
fire  above,  fire  on  all  sides — you  shall  eat  fire 
and  drink  fire,  and  shoot  out  fire  from  your 
eyes,  your  ears,  from  your  mouth  and  from 
all  the  pores  of  your  body. 

"My  dear  beloved  brethren,  I  must  tell  you 
that  beside  that  great  Hotel,  there  are  caul- 
drons of  boiling  pitch,  in  which  to  submerge 
the  Protestants,  Masons  and  all  others  who 
are  the  enemies  of  the  Roman  Apostolic  Re- 
ligion. Withdraw  yourselves  from  those  ac- 
cursed associations  of  carnivorous  monsters, 
as  far  as  possible,  and  give  them  neither 
bread,  clothing  nor  shelter.  Leave  them  to 
die  like  mad  dogs ;  for  they  are  not  the  chil- 
dren of  God,  but  the  children  of  Satan,  eter- 
nally condemned  to  burn  in  the  flames,  never 
ceasing  to  suffer  the  torment  of  that  fire 
which  shall  consume  them  to  the  very  bowels. 

"The  Holy  Spirit  be  with  you,  and  may  He 
accompany  you  forever,  in  the  name  of  the 
Most  Holy  Trinity,  let  us  retire  in  peace, 
protected  by  Divine  Grace." 

May  we  ask  the  reader  the  question,  is 
Romanism  in  South  America  Christianity? 
Do  they  need  missionaries?  Do  you  want  to 
help? 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       107 

CHAPTER  TWELVE 
Venezuela. 

One  of  the  sad  things  about  South  Ameri- 
ca, which  should  drive  Christian  people  in 
the  United  States  to  their  knees  in  earnest 
prayer  is  the  fact  that  the  most  neglected, 
less  evangelized  and  uneducated  parts  of  the 
neglected  continent  are  the  countries  lying 
nearest  the  United  States.  This  may  be  ex- 
plained in  part  by  the  fact  that  these  are 
tropical  countries  and  that  the  energy  of  the 
people  in  these  sections  has  been  affected  by 
the  climate.  Of  course,  the  principal  trouble 
is  they  have  not  been  given  the  Bible.  Jesus 
Christ  has  not  been  preached  to  them. 

Venezuela,  with  a  population  of  nearly 
three  million,  or  to  be  accurate  (using  the 
only  published  statistics)  2,664,000,  is  large- 
ly without  the  gospel.  Some  work  is  being 
carried  on  by  the  Presbyterian  church  and  a 
very  little  also  by  some  small  independent 
missions. 

The  area  of  Venezuela  is  more  than  400,- 
000  square  miles.  Caracas,  the  capital,  is  an 
attractive  point  to  be  visited  by  tourists,  as 
it  is  reached  from  Port  la  Guayra  by  a  short, 
but  very  scenic  railroad.  It  has  a  population 
of  70,000  people. 


108       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

With  the  area  and  natural  resources  of 
Venezuela  it  could  easily  maintain  more  than 
25,000,000  people.  Its  foreign  trade  in  1909 
amounted  to  nearly  $27,000,000.  The  extent 
of  commerce  between  this  country  and  the 
United  States  was  a  little  more  than  nine 
million  dollars. 

The  principal  products  of  this  neighbor  Re- 
public of  ours,  are  coffee,  cocoa,  balata  gum, 
rubber,  hides,  skins,  gold,  cattle,  asphalt, 
etc.  The  total  length  of  railways  in  opera- 
tion is  about  540  miles.  The  great  channel 
of  communication  through  the  interior  is  the 
Orinoco  river  with  its  branches.  This  won- 
derful river,  with  its  tributaries,  has  a  total 
navigable  length  of  4,000  miles.  In  the  west- 
ern section  the  waters  of  Lake  Maracaybo 
make  other  parts  of  the  Republic  accessible. 

The  entire  Orinoco  district,  with  cities  va- 
rying in  population  from  three  to  twenty-five 
thousand,  has  nothing  whatever  being  done 
along  missionary  lines.  There  are  wonderful 
possibilities  for  God  and  salvation  work  in 
this  neglected  neighboring  republic,  espe- 
cially up  the  Orinoco  Valley.  This  is  made 
very  accessible  by  the  river  boats  running 
regularly  from  Port  of  Spain,  Trinidad,  at 
which  point  connections  are  made  with  ves- 
sels from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Ciudad  Bol- 
ivar, the  principal  city  on  the  Orinoco  river, 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       109 

furnishes  a  most  opportune  opening  for  some- 
one to  enter  this  great  neglected  field  with 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Fruit  of  Tract  Work. 

The  wife  of  a  missionary  in  South  America 
tells  of  her  brother's  conversion  as  follows: 

After  my  father  came  to  Argentine  from 
England  he  had  some  very  severe  testings  in 
his  family  life  which  caused  him  to  drift 
away  from  the  Lord.  He  was  a  devoted 
Christian  before  leaving  home,  but  after 
coming  out  here  one  of  his  sons,  who  was  my 
half-brother,  became  very  reckless  and  this 
broke  my  father's  heart. 

For  eight  years  we  never  heard  from  this 
boy,  but  finally  we  got  word  that  he  was 
mixed  up  with  a  very  bad  company  and  was 
really  with  a  group  of  bandits,  stealing  ani- 
mals. His  photo  appeared  in  the  daily  pa- 
pers, and  that  was  the  first  news  we  had  of 
him.  My  father  fainted  at  the  news,  as  it 
seemed  to  be  too  much  for  him.  This  had 
all  occurred  as  a  result  of  there  being  no 
religious  services  in  the  town  where  we  lived 
at  that  time. 

In  the  office  father  used  to  shed  bitter 
tears,  and  his  friends  would  say,  "Don't  wor- 
ry, come  and  have  a  drink,"  and  so  he  com- 
menced the  drink  habit,  causing  great  sor- 


110       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

row  to  the  family.  But  mother  and  I  stood 
steadfast,  praying  for  both  father  and  broth- 
er. 

The  first  thing  I  did  when  I  heard  of  my 
brother  being  in  the  prison  of  St.  Nicholas, 
Argentine,  was  to  send  him  a  kind  letter  and 
also  a  tract.  (The  Sunday  school  paper  of  the 
Methodist  church).  Then  I  wrote  to  the  pub- 
lishers and  arranged  with  them  to  have  this 
sent  to  him  in  prison  each  week  direct  from 
the  publishing  house.  Through  this  tract 
he  was  converted,  as  well  as  many  others  in 
the  prison.  They  began  religious  services  in 
the  prison,  and  so  far  as  I  can  learn  they 
continue  these  meetings  until  the  present. 

Among  the  number  converted  was  a  Mr. 
Guerrero,  who  was  treasurer  of  the  munici- 
pal government  of  Rojas,  and  had  been  sent 
to  the  prison  for  robbing  the  treasury.  He 
remained  true  to  the  Lord  until  he  served 
his  term,  and  after  leaving  his  prison  life 
dedicated  himself  to  the  work  of  a  Bible  col- 
porteur for  the  American  Bible  Society. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       111 

CHAPTER  THIRTEEN 
Church  Growth  on  the  Mission  Field. 

We  have  seen  many  churches  on  the  mis- 
sion field  run  at  an  expense  of  one-half,  or 
even  less  than  one-fourth  that  of  an  average 
church  in  the  homeland,  where  the  results 
were  such  that  it  would  put  the  home  church 
to  shame.  We  have  seen  such  churches  many 
times.  We  have  in  mind  at  the  present  one  in 
particular  located  in  South  America,  in  a  city 
of  two  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  This 
is  an  inland  city  of  which  one  rarely  hears. 
In  fact,  when  we  started  there  on  the  train, 
we  supposed  we  were  going  to  a  place  of 
five  or  ten  thousand  people,  but  upon  arriving 
we  found  it  a  city  of  two  hundred  thousand 
instead,  with  splendid  electric  car  system  and 
thousands  of  automobiles. 

There  is  very  little  being  done  in  this  city 
along  the  line  of  salvation  work.  Perhaps 
there  ,are  three  organizations  supporting 
that  many  native  workers.  We  had  the  priv- 
ilege of  spending  two  days  in  one  of  these 
churches.  We  found  a  building  with  seating 
capacity  much  larger  than  the  average 
church  at  home.  When  organized  they  had 
178  full  members  with  94  probationers.  Now 


112       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

they  have  280  full  members  with  260  pro- 
bationers. They  have  services  every  night  ex- 
cept Saturday.  They  conduct  six  Sunday 
schools  with  over  600  children  attending 
these  various  schools.  Every  Sunday  they 
preach  the  gospel  in  the  public  square  to 
large  crowds,  and  in  the  penitentiary  where 
350  prisoners  listen  to  the  story  of  salvation. 

We  spent  one  Sunday  with  this  native  pas- 
tor, and  his  presiding  elder  accompanied  us 
as  interpreter.  As  we  were  to  preach  at  elev- 
en o'clock  to  the  English-speaking  congrega- 
tion in  the  city  we  had  arranged  a  nine 
o'clock  service  for  the  Spanish  church  on 
Sunday  morning.  At  this  early  morning  ser- 
vice we  spoke  on  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  tried  to  see  how  clear  and  definite 
we  could  be  about  this  experience  for  Chris- 
tion  people,  and  that  it  resulted  in  the  car- 
nal inind  being  destroyed,  the  heart  cleansed 
and  the  Holy  Spirit  enthroned  as  an  abiding 
Comforter,  enabling  us  to  witness  for  Jesus. 

At  the  close  of  our  sermon  we  reviewed  the 
message  of  the  hour  again  stating  that  this 
experience  was  only  for  Christian  people.  We 
then  asked  those  who  knew  they  were  not 
right  with  God  and  wanted  the  Lord  to  for- 
give all  their  sins  to  come  and  kneel  in  the 
altar.  To  this  we  had  a  glad  response.  After 
these  had  knelt  we  asked  all  who  knew  they 


A    South     American     Indian    With    the     Gospel. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       113 

were  right  with  God  and  wanted  Him  to 
cleanse  their  hearts  and  give  them  the  Holy 
Ghost,  to  come  and  kneel.  Immediately  upon 
giving  the  invitation,  this  educated  native 
pastor,  who  was  sitting  down  in  front  sprang 
to  his  feet  and  turning  to  his  congregation, 
he  motioned  them  to  the  altar  saying,  "Come 
on,  let's  get  this  experience."  And  Bro.  Bar- 
roetavena,  the  pastor,  led  the  way,  being  the 
first  to  kneel  seeking  the  Holy  Ghost.  Nearly 
a  hundred  of  his  people  followed  their  pastor 
to  the  altar. 

That  afternoon  at  2:30  o'clock  and  again 
that  night  at  8:00  o'clock  we  saw  more  than 
a  hundred  people  kneel  in  the  altar  seeking 
salvation.  Monday  night  the  congregation 
was  larger  and  the  number  in  the  altar  still 
greater  than  at  either  of  the  preceding  ser- 
vices. 

Upon  our  return  to  the  coast  we  were  to 
pass  through  this  city  the  following  Thurs- 
day night,  and  as  we  would  have  a  few  hours 
between  trains,  they  asked  for  another  ser- 
vice, to  which  we  agreed.  Our  train  was  late 
and  we  had  to  go  from  the  depot  to  the  ser- 
vice. We  found  the  building  crowded  and  at 
the  invitation  we  saw  the  altar  filled  with 
people  seeking  God. 

It  might  be  well  for  us  to  state  also  that 
while  this  native  church  is  doing  a  work 


114       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

which  will  put  the  home  churches  to  shame, 
it  is  doing  this  work  without  one  cent  of  mis- 
sionary money,  for  it  is  entirely  self-sup- 
porting. In  fact,  they  are  not  only  making 
this  progress  without  missionary  money,  but 
are  giving  much  themselves.  We  have  never 
visited  a  church  where  we  were  more  de- 
lighted with  the  spirit  of  the  members. 

At  these  special  services  many  people  at- 
tended their  first  Protestant  service.  When 
the  scripture  lesson  was  being  read  we  were 
melted  to  tears  as  we  saw  members  of  the 
church  all  over  this  large  building  slipping 
here  and  there  offering  an  open  Bible  to  the 
stranger,  that  they  might  follow  the  presid- 
ing elder  as  he  read  the  Scripture  lesson. 

When  we  were  asking  those  who  knew  they 
were  right  with  God  to  come  forward  and 
pray  with  the  penitents,  we  would  scarcely 
give  the  invitation  until  it  seemed  half  the 
congregation  was  on  their  feet,  and  we  have 
seen  the  aisles  crowded  with  native  Chris- 
tians on  their  knees  pleading  with  God  for 
the  salvation  of  the  people.  Whether  it  pays 
we  leave  the  reader  to  decide. 

On  a  railroad  running  out  from  this  city 
there  are  three  other  cities  within  fifty  miles 
of  this  one,  each  with  a  population  of  several 
thousand.  These  three  cities  could  be  easily 
evangelized  from  this  main  church  if  they 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA        115 

had  a  good  native  worker  to  labor  under  the 
direction  of  this  pastor.  When  we  left  the 
pastor  furnished  the  presiding  elder  with  a 
map  he  had  drawn  of  these  places  with  their 
needs  and  possibilities,  urging  him  to  put  it 
before  us,  and  asked  that  we  get  others  to 
pray  earnestly  that  the  Lord  would  furnish 
the  money  necessary  to  open  up  this  new 
work. 


116       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

CHAPTER  FOURTEEN 
Evangelism  in  South  America. 

We  seriously  doubt  if  there  is  another 
place  on  the  earth  where  real  scriptural,  Holy 
Ghost  evangelism  is  more  needed,  and  will 
be  a  greater  success  than  in  South  America, 
especially  that  part  of  the  continent  south 
of  the  Equator. 

It  is  possible  that  India  would  be  as  fruit- 
ful or  even  more  so,  but  the  urgent  needs  are 
perhaps  not  so  great  because  there  is  already 
much  being  done  there,  and  so  little  in  South 
America.  There  are  many  difficulties  to  en- 
counter in  the  latter  place,  but  the  opportuni- 
ties are  greater.  There  is  perhaps  no  other 
mission  field  where  it  is  more  expensive  to 
do  missionary  work  than  South  America,  but 
outside  of  India,  we  do  not  believe  there  is 
another  place  where  the  opportunities  are 
one-half  so  great,  especially  for  immediate 
results. 

That  the  South  American  will  leave  Ro- 
manism is  already  settled.  The  old  type  of 
Romanism  down  here  is  such  that  it  cannot 
possibly  stand  before  the  tide  of  education, 
civilization  and  progress,  so  manifest  in  these 
countries.  One  seldom  sees  a  college  or  uni- 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       117 

versity  student  who  holds  to  the  old  church. 
The  rule  is,  they  are  bitter  enemies  of  it. 
They  are  open  to  light  and  easily  reached  by 
the  truth. 

The  present  force  of  missionaries  cannot 
properly  care  for  those  who  have  already  pro- 
fessed faith  in  Christ,  and  for  them  to  make 
any  marked  advance  on  the  enemy  in  the 
way  of  real  evangelistic  work  is  entirely  out 
of  the  question.  In  many  cases,  the  greatest 
work  is  needed  among  the  missionaries  and 
native  preachers  themselves.  We  would  not 
leave  the  impression  that  they  are  backslid- 
den ;  no,  not  for  a  minute ;  for  as  a  rule,  we 
have  found  saints  of  God  among  them.  But 
they  do  need  the  Holy  Ghost;  they  need  a 
Peter  who  has  been  to  the  upper  room  at 
Pentecost  to  visit  them  as  the  one  of  old 
visited  Cornelius.  They  told  us  what  we  have 
often  felt:  "Bro.  Taylor,  we  feel  the  need 
of  a  revival  held  by  someone  else,  so  we  can 
be  refreshed  and  have  our  faith  strengthen- 
ed." Greater  than  this,  however,  they  need 
a  Spirit-filled  evangelist,  who  is  sane  and 
careful,  to  help  lead  the  host  up  against  the 
enemy,  gain  the  attention  of  new  people,  and 
lead  them  to  accept  the  truth.  The  right 
man  in  these  places,  backed  by  the  pastors, 
could  have  a  few  thousand  conversions  in  a 
year,  and  could  do  wonders  in  the  way  of 


118       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

helping  the  older  Christians  and  getting  them 
pushed  out  into  active  Christian  work. 

Such  an  evangelist  should  have  the  Holy 
Ghost  himself,  so  he  could  preach  Him  to 
others.  This  man  should  have  the  language  so 
he  could  not  only  preach  in  Spanish,  but  in- 
struct the  penitents  and  deal  with  the  multi- 
tude of  difficult  cases  coming  before  him  when 
they  ask  the  privilege  of  private  counsel.  He 
should  be  one  with  many  years  of  experience 
on  the  field,  for  a  new  man  does  not  know 
how  to  deal  with  the  situation.  This  man 
should  by  all  means  be  a  MAN.  The  men  of 
Latin- America  are  tired  of  a  "woman's  relig- 
ion". They  want  to  hear  a  man  preach  who 
is  manly,  one  who  lives  a  clean  life,  and  yet 
one  who  can  touch  shoulders  with  men  and 
offer  a  religion  that  will  appeal  to  an  enlight- 
ened, progressive  man. 

We  know  just  such  a  man.  He  could  spend 
his  time  in  this  way  instead  of  in  pastoral 
work  if  we  had  his  support  as  an  evangelist. 
His  present  support  would  necessarily  go  to 
his  successor  as  a  pastor. 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       119 

CHAPTER  FIFTEEN 
The  Accepted  Hour. 

It  is  now  almost  four  hundred  years  since 
South  America  was  taken  in  charge  by  the 
Spaniards,  and  the  old  Indian  regime  gradual- 
ly put  down.  It  was  at  this  time  that  they 
began  forcing  the  "cross"  upon  the  Indian.  In 
many  cases  where  he  refused  it,  or  was  slow 
to  embrace  it,  he  met  instant  death  at  the 
command  of  the  priest,  who  would  cry  out  to 
the  soldiers  in  such  words  as:  "Kill  the  dog; 
why  spare  him  longer;  go  upon  him  instant- 
ly; I  absolve  you." 

During  these  four  hundred  years  there 
has  never  been  a  time  so  important  for  South 
America  as  the  present.  The  mind  in  these 
countries  is  passing  through  a  transitional 
period.  Romanism  has  been  honestly  and 
faithfully  tried,  but  it  has  failed,  and  as  a 
whole,  the  people  are  done  with  it,  turning  en 
masse  from  it.  This  is  not  so  true  of  the 
women,  especially  the  uneducated  ones,  as  it 
is  of  the  men,  who  have  already  given  up  the 
Roman  Catholic  church.  They  speak  as  an 
ex-senator  of  one  of  the  leading  republics  of 
South  America  said  one  day  to  a  missionary. 
We  were  holding  a  revival  in  the  capital  city 


120       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

of  his  country ;  much  interest  was  manifested 
and  the  results  of  the  meeting  were  being 
seen  among  the  young  ladies  in  the  college 
for  young  women,  where  his  daughter  was 
in  school. 

After  asking  what  the  Protestants  taught, 
he  said:  "That  is  the  kind  of  religion  our 
country  needs.  I  am  tired  of  my  wife  running 
to  the  priest  and  telling  him  everything,  ex- 
pecting him  to  forgive  her.  There  is  nothing 
in  it.  Roman  Catholicism  will  do  for  ignorant 
people,  but  educated  people  cannot  put  up 
with  it."  He  closed  his  conversation  by  say- 
ing, "I  want  my  daughter  to  get  your  kind 
of  religion." 

Since  South  American  Romanism  is  all 
they  have  known  of  Christianity,  they  are 
disgusted  with  it  and  turning  to  agnosticism. 
For  this  they  are  to  be  complimented  rather 
than  condemned,  for  no  intelligent  man  can 
be  expected  to  believe  in  the  teachings  and 
practices  of  the  Romanism  of  these  countries. 
And  since  this  is  what  they  have  understood 
Christianity  to  be  they  cannot  be  condemned 
for  turning  from  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  they  should  really  be 
commended  for  rejecting  the  so-called  Chris- 
tian religion  which  they  have  had  to  endure 
for  four  hundred  years.  But  they  should  be 
diligently  taught  that  what  they  have  had  is 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       121 

not  Christianity  at  all;  that  it  is  rather  pa- 
ganism with  a  Christian  name — paganism 
with  Christian  baptism. 

At  the  present  time  these  people,  in  fact, 
hardly  believe  anything.  They  are  not  in  any 
sense  Romanists,  and  yet  they  are  not  set- 
tled in  their  unbelief.  A  change  is  certain  and 
imminent,  and  at  just  this  changing,  transi- 
tional period  is  the  time  of  all  times  to  ap- 
proach them  with  an  intelligent  teaching  of 
Christ  and  the  Christian  religion. 

Just  as  there  has  not  been  a  time  in  the 
last  four  hundred  years  when  everything  was 
so  opportune  for  this  as  the  present,  so  we 
are  persuaded  there  will  not  be  another  time, 
perhaps  in  the  next  four  hundred  years  when 
it  will  be  as  easy  to  preach  the  gospel  here 
and  get  a  receptive  ear  as  at  present.  The 
wrath  of  man  is  now  being  made  to  praise 
Him  and  the  very  wickedness  and  failures  of 
the  Roman  church  have  brought  about  this 
rare  opportunity  for  the  Gospel.  Shall  we 
enter  this  wide  open  door  and  answer  these 
millions  of  hungry,  disappointed  hearts  as 
they  cry,  "Come  over  and  help  us"  ?  Or  will 
we  leave  them  to  their  own  wretched  doom 
and  then  try  to  save  the  next  generation 
from  their  infidelity?  Truly,  now  is  the  ac- 
cepted time,  and  now  is  the  day  of  salvation 
for  this  people,  if  they  are  ever  to  be  saved. 


122      TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

CHAPTER  SIXTEEN 
Good-Bye. 

An  evangelistic  campaign  on  mission  fields 
in  foreign  countries  is  a  strange  and  unequal- 
led mixture  of  joy  and  sorrow,  gladness  and 
regrets,  hearty  receptions  and  sad  good-byes. 
The  heart  strings  are  pulled  on  until  they  are 
almost  broken  in  leaving  home  and  loved 
ones.  When  the  field  has  been  reached  and 
hungry  souls  by  the  hundred  and  even  thous- 
ands, are  seeking  salvation,  there  is  surely 
no  joy  to  excel  it.  But  at  the  close  of  each 
meeting  new  ties,  so  recently  made,  but  bind- 
ing closely,  must  be  broken.  The  very  tokens 
they  give,  turn  themselves  into  messengers 
for  the  remainder  of  the  journey,  calling  up 
pleasant  memories  and  the  new-made  friends 
who  were  bidden  good-bye  so  early. 

These  little  tokens  consist  of  various  things 
— at  times  they  are  the  idol,  the  image  which 
the  "convert"  had  prayed  to  before  being 
saved  from  sin;  many,  many  times  have  we 
waved  good-bye  to  lone  missionaries,  native 
workers  and  young  converts  as  they  stood  on 
the  shore  watching  our  vessel  pull  out.  The 
other  vessel,  for  some  of  them  have  already 
pulled  out  for  the  Heavenly  shore,  and  our 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       123 

next  meeting  will  be  over  there.  Those  we 
love,  and  those  we  have  had  reason  to  call 
friends,  and  love  as  such  are  much  scatter- 
ed, and  a  large  per  cent,  of  them  are  "on  the 
field" ;  some  are  living  in  trash  covered  huts 
with  dirt  floors,  but  on  these  same  floors  they 
bow  their  knees  no  more  to  idols,  but  kneel 
before  our  God  in  humble  heart  worship  and 
adoration. 

However,  they  do  not  all  worship  God,  and 
have  not  all  given  up  their  idols,  for  some 
of  the  kindest  acts  and  most  friendly  favors 
we  have  received  have  been  from  the  hands 
of  some  poor  old  heathen  men,  some  of  the 
young  men,  others  old  and  white-haired 
chiefs.  They  have  housed  and  fed  me ;  they 
have  "shown  me  the  way",  given  me  a  drink 
of  cold  water,  and  though  it  was  not  in  the 
Master's  name  we  have  a  feeling  they  will 
still  have  their  reward  for  it. 

These  friends  at  times  have  represented 
some  of  the  leading  dignitaries  of  various 
churches,  but  more  often  humble,  lonely  and 
even  under-paid  and  under-fed  missionaries ; 
some  going  on  long  trips  to  meet  me,  help 
me,  hear  and  pray  for  me.  We  have  at  times 
received  these  favors  when  their  own  wife  or 
child  was  languishing  on  a  bed  of  sickness. 

A  large  army  have  been  the  native  preach- 
ers and  workers.  Of  course,  they  are  just 


124       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

men,  of  like  passions  as  we;  they  have  their 
faults,  make  their  mistakes,  and  sometimes 
some  of  them  fall,  but  we  have  seen  them 
seemingly  fail,  when  they  had  put  up  a  much 
harder  fight  than  have  many  of  us  at  home 
when  we  seemed  to  succeed. 

Some  of  these  have  set  us  down  at  the  table 
and  wanted  to  wait  until  we  had  first  eaten. 
Much  of  their  sacrifice  for  our  comforts  can- 
not be  mentioned.  Do  we  love  them  ?  the  word 
yes  is  weak. 

Here  comes  a  larger  group;  many,  many 
of  their  names  we  can  call;  many  more  of 
their  faces  are  graven  on  our  memory ;  they 
are  the  saints  of  God ;  the  salt  of  the  earth, 
who  have  fought  in  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
army ;  the  native  Christians  who  began  with 
us  and  remained  in  the  thickest  of  the  bat- 
tle until  victory  was  declared,  until  the  last 
sermon,  the  last  song,  prayer  and  amen.  We 
have  seldom  met  men  and  women  in  the 
homeland  just  like  them.  A  few  of  this  class 
have  been  business  and  professional  men,  but 
most  of  them  have  been  poor,  hard-working 
men  and  women;  many  of  them  had  gone 
deep  in  sin.  In  some  cases  their  children  went 
to  see  them  married.  Can  the  reader  imagine 
a  man  and  woman  having  from  three  to 
twelve  children  and  all  these  children  going 
to  see  their  father  and  mother  marry?  In 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       125 

many  cases  these  friends  are  bare-footed, 
very  illiterate,  among  the  poorest  of  the  poor. 
But  they  would  work  hard  all  day  and  help 
pray  and  shout  at  night.  When  some  of  them 
have  asked  the  blessings  of  God  upon  us  as 
we  sailed  for  another  field,  or  climbed  on  our 
mule  for  another  town  or  village,  we  have 
felt  that  it  really  stood  for  more  than  the 
hands  of  the  Bishop  on  our  head. 

But  if  the  reader  will  pause  a  moment  we 
will  ask  a  real  army  to  pass  by.  This  is  the 
largest  company  of  all,  and  shall  we  say,  the 
most  loved  of  all?  This  is  the  company  for 
whom  we  pray  regularly,  and  over  whose 
failures  we  weep  as  though  they  were  our 
own.  These  are  they  who  have  been  convert- 
ed in  our  meetings,  several  thousand  in  all, 
from  every  walk  of  life.  They  represent  the 
city,  town  and  hamlet;  they  are  from  dis- 
tant mountain  huts  and  interior  tribes.  Some 
of  them  tramped  for  days  to  reach  the  place 
where  the  Word  was  being  preached.  These 
are  the  trophies  He  has  given  us  for  the  con- 
quest. These  are  the  diamonds  we  have  been 
able  to  pick  up  on  the  way;  the  fish  He  has 
helped  us  pull  out  of  the  deep  broad  sea  of 
sin.  Some  are  now  preaching  the  gospel  to 
others;  some  are  at  the  head  of  families; 
some,  we  are  afraid,  have  "gone  back",  but 
we  pray  that  they  may  return. 


126       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Do  we  love  them?  Ask  the  mother  if  she 
loves  her  child,  ask  the  father  what  that  boy 
is  to  him.  These  are  my  children;  their  suc- 
cess and  victory  gladdens  my  heart,  and  their 
mistakes  break  my  heart.  Will  the  reader 
pray  for  our  children?  God  bless  them.  To 
tell  them — all  of  them — good-bye  is  hard.  We 
always  know  we  cannot  hope  to  see  them  all 
again. 

Our  last  tour  of  South  America  was  all  we 
have  mentioned.  From  the  very  beginning  the 
power,  success  and  victories  began  increasing 
and  multiplying.  It  seemed  as  we  watched  the 
various  meetings  of  from  one  to  four  or  five 
days  while  we  pressed  on  from  one  country 
to  another,  that  the  Almighty  had  contracted 
to  make  each  succeeding  meeting  greater 
than  the  last.  This  was  true  right  up  to  the 
end  of  the  campaign  when  we  finally  reached 
Montevideo,  Uruguay,  with  tired  bodies, 
rather  on  the  homesick  list,  and  with  some 
local  difficulties  in  the  way.  Bro.  Reid  and 
the  writer  covenanted  together  to  ask  our 
Heavenly  Father  to  finish  up  the  tour  in  the 
same  order  that  it  had  gone  through  all  these 
months. 

The  first  noticeable  feature  was  the  fact) 
that  more  than  half  our  congregations  were 
outside  people.  The  next  was  the  church 
the  altar  for  perfect  love.  Victory  continued ; 


TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA       127 

the  crowds  increased,  and  the  altar  services 
grew  in  power. 

Our  ship  was  to  leave  on  Friday,  June  12. 
Thursday  night  must  be  our  last  service.  The 
church  was  packed.  The  pastors,  dean  of  the 
Theological  school,  and  the  young  preachers 
were  there  doing  their  best,  as  they  had  been 
from  the  beginning;  yes,  the  pastors'  wives 
were  there  as  they  had  been,  working  as  we 
have  seldom  seen  women  do.  They  visited 
and  prayed,  and  God  used  them. 

At  six  p.  m.  two  pastors,  their  wives  and 
the  head  of  the  theological  school  came  to 
the  hotel  where  we  dined  together.  At  eight 
o'clock  preached  the  last  sermon,  the  altar 
had  been  filled  and  we  were  just  ready  to 
close  when  a  gentleman  arose  and  with  well 
chosen  words  made  a  few  remarks  concern- 
ing the  meeting  just  closing;  then  a  young 
woman  from  the  Sunday  school  arose  and  in 
Spanish  spoke  of  our  work  in  their  midst,  and 
presented  each  of  us  with  a  most  beautiful 
bunch  of  flowers.  In  replying,  we  told  them 
we  felt  it  was  not  only  the  good-bye  service 
for  Montevideo  and  Uruguay,  but  for  all  the 
South  American  tour. 

As  the  large  congregation  arose  to  their 
feet  expressing  $heir  appreciation  of  our 
work  in  their  midst,  we  felt  that  the  flowers 
belonged  to  Bro.  Reid's  invalid  mother,  and 


128       TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA 

the  writer's  untiring,  faithful  wife,  who  dur- 
ing all  these  months  had,  uncomplainingly 
"stayed  by  the  stuff"  and  pressed  the  inter- 
ests in  the  homeland  by  caring  for  the  office 
end  of  the  work.  We  also  felt  that  the  expres- 
sion of  appreciation  from  the  congregation 
belonged  to  the  faithful  army  of  His  children 
whose  money  and  prayers  had  made  the  cam- 
paign possible,  and  brought  down  the  vic- 
tories from  above. 
We  then  said  "GOOD-BYE." 


HOW  YOU  CAN  HELP  US 
In   Latin   America. 

YOU  CAN  Open  a  new  work  in  a  city  of  3,500  peo- 
ple at  an  expense  of  $35.00  per  month. 

YOU  CAN  Open  a  new  work  in  three  small  cities 
with  a  combined  population  of  25,000. 
They  will  make  a  circuit  and  it  will 
cost  $30.00  per  month. 

YOU  CAN  Go  to    Peru    as   a  nurse  and  deaconess 

YOU  CAN  Send  us  $10.00  per  month,  which  will  pay 
for  100,000  pages  of  missionary  tracts 
on  South  America  for  free  distribution 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada  each 
month. 

YOU  CAN  Finance  a  tract  district  in  South  Ameri- 
ca for  $3.00  to  $12.00  per  month.  This 
will  furnish  eager  missionaries  with 
from  40,000  to  200,000  pages  of  tracts  •» 
in  Spanish  each  month  for  free  dis- 
tribution. 

YOU  CAN  Support  a  godly  missionary  and  family 
in  Colon,  Panama,  for  $35.00  per  month. 

YOU  CAN  Be  one  of  10  to  send  $5.00  each  month 
for  the  support  of  a  young  woman  from 
Indiana  to  teach  in  Panama,  and  do 
other  missionary  work. 

YOU  CAN  Furnish  railroad  fare  at  $5.00  per  month 
for  a  young  man  in  printing  office  to 
go  out  each  Saturday  and  preach  on 
Sunday.  He  works  in  a  mission  printing 
office  for  one-third  what  he  received  in 
secular  work. 

YOU  CAN  Take  the  support  of  a  converted  priest 
at  $50.00  per  month. 

YOU  CAN  Furnish  support  for  either  of  two  mis- 
sionaries in  Bolivia  at  $50.00  per  month. 
They  speak  Spanish  well. 

YOU  CAN  Keep  a  native  minister  in  training  school 
for  $20.00  per  month.  We  have  three  of 
these  and  they  are  all  in  charge  of 
missions. 

YOU  CAN  Build  a  small  chapel  in  memory  of  a 
loved  one  at  La  Boca  for  $600.00. 

YOU  CAN  Be  one  of  15  to  pay  $5.00  per  month  to 

support   an     evangelist     in    Chile   who    « 
speaks  as  good  Spanish  as  English.  Re- 
sults would  be  great. 

YOU  CAN  Send  $10.00  per  month  to  help  open  the 
work  in  Tucuman,  Argentine,  a  city  of 
95,000  inhabitants. 


The  Missionary 
Reporter 

Jin  Interdenominational  Monthly 

published  in  the  interest  of 

missions  in  ALL  LANDS. 


The  pages  of  the  REPORTER  are  limited  to 
MISSIONS.  Many  papers  give  some  space  to 
MISSIONS;  the  REPORTER  gives  all  its  space  to 
MISSIONS. 

The  Reporter  Record 

"NOT  A  DRY  LINE  ON  ANY  PAGE"  is  the 
recerd  the  REPORTER  has  already  established. 

When  the  REPORTER  was  two  and  a  half  years 
old  we  had  reached  the  50.000  mark. 


f  James  M.  Taylor,  Missionary  Evangelist 
EDITORS  -s  _ 

(.  Mrs.  James  M.  Taylor. 


Subscription  price  only  tea  cents  per  year:  three 
years  for  twenty-five  cents.  Send  personal  check, 
stamps,  or  cash  by  registered  letter. 

Published  by 

JAMES  M.  TAYLOR, 

807  Deery  Street.  Kaoxville.  Tennessee 


SOUTH  AMERICA  » KODAK 

JAMES  M.  TAYLOR 

MISSIONARY  EVANGELIST 

Our  Missionary  Album  was  a  success.  5,000  of  them 
went  out  on  their  mission  the  first  year,  and  words  of  praise 
came  from  many. 

In  SOUTH  AMERICA  BY  KODAK  we  believe  we 
have  nearly  reached  perfection  in  literature  of  this  kind. 

INSTRUCTIVE 

Instead  of  filling  the  pages  with  pictures*  as  we  did  in  the 
Album,  we  have  one  picture  to  the  page  in  SOUTH  AMER- 
ICA BY  KODAK,  and  all  the  other  space  is  filled  with 
reading  matter  explaining  the  truth  or  condition  the  picture 
is  supposed  to  illustrate* 

SIXTY-FOUR  PICTURES 

SOUTH  AMERICA  BY  KODAK  contains  64  large 
pages.  On  each  page  is  an  eloquent  picture,  telling  in  a 
striking  manner  the  needs  and  possibilities  ef  Latin  America. 

BOOK  OF  ART 

Our  KODAK  STORY  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA  is  a 
beautiful  and  artistic  piece  of  work,  worthy  a  place  in  any 
library.  It  tells  its  own  story  and  will  undoubtedly  move 
heart  and  mind  to  action. 

This  illustrated  book  on  missions  in  South  America  is  the 
product  of  the  author's  recent  Tour  through  these  countries. 

The  price  is  only  25  cents.  Send  stamps,  money  order 
check,  or  registered  letter. 

Published  by 

JAMES  M.  TAYLOR, 

807  Deery  Street.  Knoxville.  Tenaessce 


NEW  MISSIONARY  LITERATURE 

BY 

JAMES  M.  TAYLOR 


SPECIAL    OFFER 

TOURING  SOUTH  AMERICA      CLOTH  PAPER 

With  the  Gospel 50c      25c 

Stories  and  Sketches  of  Missionary 

Life  in  Latin  America     ....     50c      25c 
South  America  by  Kodak — A  Real 
Picture  Trip  —  Beautifully  Bound 
and  Tied  with  Silk  Cord    .    •    .    25c      25c 

My  Campaign  Diary JOc       JOc 

Missionary  Calendar  for  (9J5  .  .  JOc  JOc 
Sticking;  Statistics  on  Latin  America  JOc  JOc 
Sticking;  Statistics  on  Missions  in 

General JOc       (Oc 

Two  Dozen  Missionary  Blotters     .  20c 

Seven  Dozen  Missionary  Blotters    .     70c 

$2.35  $1.35 
Special  Price $2.00  $J.OO 

Some  of  the  above  literature  is  ready,  some  of 
it  on  the  press,  but  we  will  be  able  to  deliver  it 
all  in  60  days.  Your  order  at  once  will  greatly 
aid  us.  Help  us  put  missions  on  the  printed 
pag-e  before  every  American. 

Send  money  order,  check,  stamps,  etc. 

JAMES  M.  TAYLOR, 

807  Deery  Street,  Knoxville,  Tennessee 


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